Coyote movements and social structure along a cryptic population genetic subdivision

Abstract

A recent region-wide study determined that the central California coyote ( Canis latrans ) population was genetically subdivided according to habitat bioregions, supporting the hypothesis that coyotes exhibit a dispersal bias toward their natal habitat type. Here, we further investigated this hypothesis using radio-collared coyotes captured on a 150-km 2 study site on the border of (i.e. overlapping) two bioregions (Great Valley and Cascade Mountains). As predicted, most coyotes were assigned (based on a priori genetic criteria) to genetic clusters corresponding to one of these two bioregions. All of those assigned to the Great Valley genetic cluster were caught in (and for the most part, remained in) the Great Valley bioregion. However, contrary to expectations, the coyotes assigned to the Cascades genetic cluster occurred commonly in both bioregions. Nearly all resident individuals on the study site, regardless of the particular bioregion, were assigned to the Cascades genetic cluster, whereas a sizable fraction of nonresident (transient or dispersing) coyotes caught in the Great Valley bioregion were assigned to the Great Valley cluster. Even among resident coyotes, interrelatedness of packs was greater within than between bioregions, and packs with territories overlapping both bioregions were more closely related to those with territories completely within the Cascades bioregion than territories completely within the Great Valley bioregion. Finally, direct estimates indicated that gene flow was twice as high from the Cascades bioregion to the Great Valley bioregion than in the reverse direction. Collectively, these findings reveal the anatomy of the genetic subdivision as beginning abruptly at the bioregion boundary and ending diffusely within the Great Valley bioregion.

Dispersing brush mice prefer habitat like home

“…When the results of the current study are added to those of previous studies on this topic (Haughland & Larsen 2004;Sacks et al 2005;Tonnis et al 2005;Pilot et al 2006;Selonen et al 2007), evidence is accumulating that natal experience may play an important role in determining habitat choice for freeliving dispersers in natural landscapes. In light of this evidence, it seems likely that NHPI may impact ecological and evolutionary processes in a variety of species under natural conditions.…”

“…Despite the considerable interest in the broader implications of NHPI, the vast majority of empirical studies of this phenomenon have been conducted in the laboratory and used insects as the experimental subjects (Davis & Stamps 2004;Davis 2006;Stamps & Davis 2006), although a few field studies have reported a population genetic structure consistent with NHPI (Sacks et al 2005;Tonnis et al 2005;Pilot et al 2006). Recently, Haughland & Larsen (2004) found that red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) born in either logged or intact coniferous forests were likely to recruit to new sites that were structurally similar to their natal site.…”

“…Recently, biologists have become interested in the implications of NHPI for problems in behaviour, ecology and evolution. For instance, NHPI may generate individual differences in habitat preferences (Davis & Stamps 2004), impact metapopulation dynamics by influencing habitat patch colonization rates (Hanski & Singer 2001), help maintain genetic variation across landscapes (Sacks et al 2005;Tonnis et al 2005), facilitate extra-genetic inheritance of phenotypically plastic traits ( West-Eberhard 2003;Slagsvold & Wiebe 2007) and contribute to sympatric speciation (Beltman & Haccou 2005;Forbes et al 2005;Slagsvold & Wiebe 2007).…”

Differentiation of tundra/taiga and boreal coniferous forest wolves: genetics, coat colour and association with migratory caribou

“…Finally, Pilot et al (2006) found that genetic differentiation in European wolves was correlated with climate, habitat types, and diet composition and also suggested that natalhabitat biased dispersal was the underlying mechanism linking population ecology vntin genetic sb:xicture. Apparently, in large canids, ecotypic divergence may be the primary mode of differentiation (Carmichael et al 2001;Musiani 2003;Geffen et al 2004;Sacks et al 2004Sacks et al , 2005Pilot et al 2006;Carmichael et al in press) presenting an alternative to topographically induced population structure (Avise 2000).…”

Red foxes colonizing the tundra: genetic analysis as a tool for population management

“…To test for differences in population membership values (q) among runs, i.e. the posterior probability of an individual originating from the same population where it was sampled, we used a non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test in R (Sacks et al 2005). …”