Abstract
Small mammals provide ecosystem services, acting, for example, as pollinators and seed dispersers. In addition, they are also disease reservoirs that can be detrimental to human health and they can also act as crop pests. Knowledge of their dispersal preferences is therefore useful for population management and landscape planning. Genetic data were used alongside landscape data to examine the influence of the landscape on the demographic connectedness of the Natal multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis) and to identify landscape characteristics that influence the genetic structure of this species across a spatially and temporally varying environment. The most significant landscape features shaping gene flow were aspect, vegetation cover, topographic complexity (TC) and rivers, with western facing slopes, topographic complexity and rivers restricting gene flow. In general, thicket vegetation was correlated with increased gene flow. Identifying features of the landscape that facilitate movement/dispersal in M. natalensis potentially has application for other small mammals in similar ecosystems. As the primary reservoir host of the zoonotic Lassa virus, a landscape genetics approach may have applications in determining areas of high disease risk to humans. Identifying these landscape features may also be important in crop management due to damage by rodent pests.
Highlights
Differentiation should reflect landscape permeability[9]
We present the first landscape genetics study for an African small mammal, identifying features that may potentially explain contemporary genetic structure in a relatively unmodified landscape
Our results showed a higher and significant genetic correlation among individuals than expected at smaller geographic scales confirming the results of van Hooft et al.[3] suggesting that M. natalensis exhibit a pattern of kin clustering at smaller geographic scales while, long distance dispersal events result in no pattern of IBD as suggested by spatial autocorrelation at larger geographic scales
Summary
Differentiation should reflect landscape permeability[9]. A comparative analysis of arvicoline species (lemmings, voles and muskrats) has demonstrated frequent short distance dispersal events of hundreds of meters[6], some small mammal species are capable of dispersing over much longer distances of kilometres[7]. Knowledge of how landscape features interact with genetic variation at both the population and individual level is required to understand gene flow and adaptation to the environment[16]. Studying patterns of gene flow in relation to environmental characteristics provide indirect information on life history traits and ecological function This provides critical information for both small mammal ecosystem services (pollinators and seed dispersers) and management[18,19]. Landscape modification can impact on the movement of species differently and it is crucial to understand similarities among species for landscape planning[23] In this context, we investigated genetic structure and landscape heterogeneity in the Natal multimammate mouse from the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP), South Africa. Genetic data were used alongside high-resolution landscape data to examine the influence of the landscape on the demographic connectedness of M. natalensis and to identify landscape characteristics that influence the genetic structure of this species across a spatially and temporally varying environment
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