Natural not urban barriers define population str

Authors: Allison K Leidner Nick M Haddad

Publish Date: 2010/08/15

Volume: 11, Issue: 6, Pages: 2311-2320

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Abstract

Habitat loss and fragmentation are the major causes of biodiversity loss and increasingly habitat is fragmented by urbanization Yet the degree to which urbanization creates barriers to animal dispersal remains poorly understood We used population genetic techniques to determine whether urbanization and/or natural landscape features are dispersal barriers to a butterfly Atrytonopsis new species 1 throughout its range on coastal sand dunes that are increasingly threatened by development Using AFLP markers that produced 89 polymorphic loci we found significant population structure across the range of Atrytonopsis sp1 We found no indication that existing levels of urbanization were barriers to Atrytonopsis sp1 dispersal Rather two natural barriers an ocean inlet and maritime forest explained the genetic structure Even in areas with long histories of urbanization we found no significant isolationbydistance relationship and there was very low genetic differentiation between sampling locations Consequently conservation strategies for Atrytonopsis sp1 and potentially for other mobile insects that use openstructured habitats should not focus explicitly on habitat corridors through urban areas but rather should seek to preserve and restore as much habitat as possible across the butterfly’s rangeThis research was funded by grants from the National Park Service North Carolina Sea Grant the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation Steve Hall’s initial research on the status of Atrytonopsis sp1 provided an important base for our research Caitlin Gille and Carla Hales and helped enormously with field work and Fred Gould and Stephanie Lorick provided invaluable access to lab space and assistance with lab work Randy Newman Sam Bland and David Rabon provided assistance with the coordination of logistics Fred Gould George Hess and Rob Dunn provided valuable comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript Special thanks to North Carolina State Parks and the local town governments and private landowners for access to many sites

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