Dissertation Research: Factors Mediating Gene Flow in a Mobile and Continuously Distributed Species, the Bobcat (Lynx rufus)

对于大多数动物物种来说，自然或人为的障碍，如水道，道路或栖息地缺口，往往限制了个体在景观中的移动，减少了遗传交换并将成员隔离为不同的种群。 但高度移动的、分布广泛的物种可能不太容易受到这种障碍的影响，因此遗传细分。 本研究将确定景观特征是否以及如何在三个空间尺度上介导基因流在一个移动的食肉动物，山猫（山猫rufus）。 在当地规模，遥测，遗传和景观数据将结合起来，以测试栖息地破碎化是否影响运动和精细尺度遗传结构的山猫在农业景观。 在区域范围内，遗传模式将被用来描绘人口和确定景观特征影响最近的山猫扩展到他们已经灭绝的地区。 在大陆范围内，将从美国各地收集和分析DNA样本，以确定景观特征是否也会产生更深层次、更广泛的遗传差异，从而确保被识别为不同的亚种。这个项目将导致我们对景观特征如何影响像山猫这样的移动的物种的进化和生态过程的理解的重大改进。 这些发现对于评估景观变化对种群动态和物种持久性的潜在影响、预测新出现的疾病的传播以及有效管理野生动物非常重要。这项工作还将通过指导和推广促进科学教育，并为高中生物教师提供实践研究经验。

For most animal species, natural or man-made barriers such as waterways, roads, or habitat gaps often constrain the movement of individuals across a landscape, reducing genetic exchange and isolating members into distinct populations. But highly mobile, broadly distributed species may be less susceptible to such barriers and hence genetic subdivision. This study will identify if and how landscape characteristics mediate gene flow over three spatial scales in a mobile carnivore, the bobcat (Lynx rufus). At the local scale, telemetry, genetic, and landscape data will be combined to test whether habitat fragmentation influences movement and fine-scale genetic structuring of bobcats within an agricultural landscape. At the regional scale, genetic patterns will be used to delineate populations and identify landscape characteristics influencing recent expansions of bobcats into areas from which they had been extirpated. At the continental scale, DNA samples will be collected and analyzed from across the United States to determine whether landscape features also generate deeper, broad-scale genetic divergences that warrant recognition as distinct subspecies. This project will lead to significant improvements in our understanding of how landscape characteristics may influence evolutionary and ecological processes in mobile species like bobcats. Such findings are important for evaluating the potential impact of landscape changes on population dynamics and species persistence, predicting the spread of emerging diseases, and effectively managing wildlife. This work will also foster science education through mentoring and outreach, and by providing a hands-on research experience for a high school biology teacher.