DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Landscape Correlates of Population Genetic Structure in Three Vertebrate Species

保护生物学的一个主要目标是保存种群的进化潜力，通常以遗传多样性来衡量。然而，由于取样限制或开发和筛选分子标记的高成本，对稀有物种的遗传多样性进行调查可能很困难。由于生物体的环境可以极大地影响遗传变异的模式，因此询问是否有物理景观的特征可以用作种群遗传结构的替代物是合乎逻辑的。同样地，一个物种的种群遗传结构是否可以从遗传上或生态上相关的物种中推断出来？我们正在使用微卫星标记，地理信息系统技术和多元和空间统计，探索潜在的景观替代品的遗传结构的比较框架的三种脊椎动物栖息在北方加州的湖泊，池塘和草地。 我试图了解景观结构和遗传结构之间的关系，以及这些相互作用如何在具有不同但相关的进化和自然历史的物种之间变化。 这种新方法的更广泛的影响，将通过人口遗传学，景观生态学和社区生物学的整合，直接影响到应用管理实践。

A principal goal of conservation biology is the preservation of a population's evolutionary potential, frequently measured as genetic diversity. Conducting surveys of genetic diversity in rare species, however, may be difficult due to sampling limitations or high costs of developing and screening molecular markers. Because an organism's environment can greatly influence patterns of genetic variation, it is logical to ask if there are features of the physical landscape that can be used as surrogates for population genetic structure. Similarly, can the population genetic structure of one species be inferred from that of phylogenetically or ecologically related species? We are using microsatellite markers, GIS techniques and multivariate and spatial statistics to explore potential landscape surrogates of genetic structure in a comparative framework of three vertebrate species inhabiting lakes, ponds and meadows in northern California. I seek to understand the relationship between landscape structure and genetic structure, as well as how these interactions vary among species with different, yet related, evolutionary and natural histories. The broader impacts of this novel approach will felt through an integration of population genetics, landscape ecology and community biology that has direct implications for applied management practices.