title: No difference between the sexes in fine-scale spatial genetic structure of roe deer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Data on spatial genetic patterns may provide information about the ecological and behavioural mechanisms underlying population structure. Indeed, social organization and dispersal patterns of species may be reflected by the pattern of genetic structure within a population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We investigated the fine-scale spatial genetic structure of a roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) population in Trois-Fontaines (France) using 12 microsatellite loci. The roe deer is weakly polygynous and highly sedentary, and can form matrilineal clans. We show that relatedness among individuals was negatively correlated with geographic distance, indicating that spatially proximate individuals are also genetically close. More unusually for a large mammalian herbivore, the link between relatedness and distance did not differ between the sexes, which is consistent with the lack of sex-biased dispersal and the weakly polygynous mating system of roe deer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results contrast with previous reports on highly polygynous species with male-biased dispersal, such as red deer, where local genetic structure was detected in females only. This divergence between species highlights the importance of socio-spatial organization in determining local genetic structure of vertebrate populations.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Comportement et Ecologie de la Faune Sauvage, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Castanet-Tolosan, France. nbonnot@toulouse.inra.fr
authors.forename: Nadège
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bonnot
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gaillard
authors.forename: Aurélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coulon
authors.forename: Maxime
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galan
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Cosson
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Delorme
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: A J Mark
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hewison
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003670:Deer / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D015233:Models, Statistical; D012737:Sex Factors; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal