Choosing appropriate genetic markers and analytical methods for testing landscape genetic hypotheses

Abstract

Landscape genetics and phylogeography both examine population‐level microevolutionary processes, such as population structure and gene flow, in the context of environmental and geographic variation. They differ in terms of the spatial and temporal scales they typically investigate, meaning that different genetic markers and analytical methods are better suited for testing the different hypotheses typically posed by each discipline. In a recent comment, Bohonak & Vandergast (2011) argue that I overlooked the value of mtDNA for landscape genetics in an article I published last year in Molecular Ecology (Wang 2010) and that a gap between landscape genetics and phylogeography, which I outlined, does not exist. Here, I clarify several points in my original article and summarize the commonly held viewpoint that different genetic markers are appropriate for drawing inferences at different temporal scales.