title: Reduced Genetic Diversity and Increased Dispersal in Guigna (Leopardus guigna) in Chilean Fragmented Landscapes.
abstract: Landscape fragmentation is often a major cause of species extinction as it can affect a wide variety of ecological processes. The impact of fragmentation varies among species depending on many factors, including their life-history traits and dispersal abilities. Felids are one of the groups most threatened by fragmented landscapes because of their large home ranges, territorial behavior, and low population densities. Here, we model the impacts of habitat fragmentation on patterns of genetic diversity in the guigna (Leopardus guigna), a small felid that is closely associated with the heavily human-impacted temperate rainforests of southern South America. We assessed genetic variation in 1798 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA sequences, 15 microsatellite loci, and 2 sex chromosome genes and estimated genetic diversity, kinship, inbreeding, and dispersal in 38 individuals from landscapes with differing degrees of fragmentation on Chiloé Island in southern Chile. Increased fragmentation was associated with reduced genetic diversity, but not with increased kinship or inbreeding. However, in fragmented landscapes, there was a weaker negative correlation between pairwise kinship and geographic distance, suggesting increased dispersal distances. These results highlight the importance of biological corridors to maximize connectivity in fragmented landscapes and contribute to our understanding of the broader genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation, especially for forest-specialist carnivores.
authors.affiliation: From the Laboratorio de Ecología Molecular, Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Napolitano and Poulin); Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Díaz); Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, Campbell, CA (Sanderson); Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA (Johnson); and Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada (K. Ritland and CE. Ritland). cnapolit@uchile.cl.
authors.forename: Constanza
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Napolitano
authors.affiliation: From the Laboratorio de Ecología Molecular, Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Napolitano and Poulin); Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Díaz); Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, Campbell, CA (Sanderson); Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA (Johnson); and Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada (K. Ritland and CE. Ritland).
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Díaz
authors.affiliation: From the Laboratorio de Ecología Molecular, Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Napolitano and Poulin); Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Díaz); Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, Campbell, CA (Sanderson); Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA (Johnson); and Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada (K. Ritland and CE. Ritland).
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sanderson
authors.affiliation: From the Laboratorio de Ecología Molecular, Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Napolitano and Poulin); Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Díaz); Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, Campbell, CA (Sanderson); Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA (Johnson); and Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada (K. Ritland and CE. Ritland).
authors.forename: Warren E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: From the Laboratorio de Ecología Molecular, Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Napolitano and Poulin); Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Díaz); Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, Campbell, CA (Sanderson); Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA (Johnson); and Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada (K. Ritland and CE. Ritland).
authors.forename: Kermit
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ritland
authors.affiliation: From the Laboratorio de Ecología Molecular, Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Napolitano and Poulin); Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Díaz); Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, Campbell, CA (Sanderson); Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA (Johnson); and Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada (K. Ritland and CE. Ritland).
authors.forename: Carol E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Ritland
authors.affiliation: From the Laboratorio de Ecología Molecular, Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Napolitano and Poulin); Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile (Díaz); Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, Campbell, CA (Sanderson); Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA (Johnson); and Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada (K. Ritland and CE. Ritland).
authors.forename: Elie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Poulin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002677:Chile; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D017753:Ecosystem; D045989:Felidae / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D058974:Phylogeography; D011156:Population Density; D065947:Rainforest; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
keywords: South America; conservation genetics; habitat fragmentation; inbreeding; kinship; temperate rainforests