Rigorous estimates of landscape resistance to gene flow

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This project will test new methods for estimating the effects of natural land covers, terrain, rivers, highways, natural corridors, and human land uses on the movement of animals across a landscape. The project will examine the correlations between landscape features and genetic patterns, which reflect the movements needed for animals to recolonize areas where they have become extinct, shift their ranges in response to climate change, maintain genetic diversity, and prevent isolation of populations. The study will use new statistical procedures, circuit theory models, and an extensive set of genetic data from 550 grizzly bears detected at 2,000 locations in a 12,000-square-mile landscape in Montana to develop measures of landscape resistance to gene flow. The project also will use this information to design sampling schemes that will enable future studies of landscape genetics to gather the best information at the lowest cost. The results of this study have potential societal benefits through helping land and wildlife managers design better land management schemes, reduce the cost of designing land management that contributes to wildlife conservation, and understand the impact of uncertainty on these designs. Graduate and undergraduate students will participate in the research and receive cross-disciplinary and quantitative training, new analytical tools will be made available, and information will be widely disseminated to the general public.