Walking in a heterogeneous landscape: Dispersal, gene flow and conservation implications for the giant panda in the Qinling Mountains

Abstract

Understanding the interaction between life history, demography and population genetics in threatened species is critical for the conservations of viable populations. In the context of habitat loss and fragmentation, identifying the factors that underpin the structuring of genetic variation within populations can allow conservationists to evaluate habitat quality and connectivity and help to design dispersal corridors effectively. In this study, we carried out a detailed, fine‐scale landscape genetic investigation of a giant panda population from the Qinling Mountains for the first time. With a large microsatellite data set and complementary analysis methods, we examined the role of isolation‐by‐barriers (IBB), isolation‐by‐distance (IBD) and isolation‐by‐resistance (IBR) in shaping the pattern of genetic variation in this giant panda population. We found that the Qinling population comprises one continuous genetic cluster, and among the landscape hypotheses tested, gene flow was found to be correlated with resistance gradients for two topographic factors, slope aspect and topographic complexity, rather than geographical distance or barriers. Gene flow was inferred to be facilitated by easterly slope aspect and to be constrained by topographically complex landscapes. These factors are related to benign microclimatic conditions for both the pandas and the food resources they rely on and more accessible topographic conditions for movement, respectively. We identified optimal corridors based on these results, aiming to promote gene flow between human‐induced habitat fragments. These findings provide insight into the permeability and affinities of giant panda habitats and offer important reference for the conservation of the giant panda and its habitat.

Inferring fine-scale spatial structure of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) population in the Carpathians prior to infrastructure development

“…Large rivers, often located alongside villages and large roads featuring heavy traffic, were found to restrict gene flow, while eastern facing slopes promoted dispersal. These results are surprisingly similar as to those recently found for giant panda in the Qinling mountains in China, and could be linked to abundant vegetation and food resources 39 . In our study, land cover did not significantly correlate with gene flow.…”

Isolation, diversity, and antimicrobial activity of fungal endophytes from Rohdea chinensis (Baker) N.Tanaka (synonym Tupistra chinensis Baker) of Qinling Mountains, China

“…The sequences obtained in this study were submitted to GenBank database with accession numbers from MK367469 to MK367568. The evolutionary history was inferred as described by Wei et al (2018) andFelsenstein (1985). All sequences were aligned by MEGA 5.05 using alignment prepared with Clustal W and all positions containing gaps and missing date were deleted.…”

“…Due to the increase in antibiotic resistance among pathogens, discovering novel antimicrobials is of high importance (Payne et al, 2007). However, after many decades of exploration it is increasingly difficult to discover novel bioactive metabolites from common environments (e.g., soils) (Jiang et al, 2018;Zhang et al, 2018;Lopes et al, 2016). Thus, in recent years the discovery of novel bioactive metabolites from extremophilic microorganisms inhabiting marine environments, desert soils, hot springs, and mangrove forests have attracted great interest (Rateb et al, 2011;Nicoletti & Vinale, 2018;Sayed et al, 2019).…”

“…The goal of this study was to isolate fungal endophytes from T. chinensis Baker of Qinling Mountains region and to screen these fungi for antimicrobial activities and identify compounds using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultraperformance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF MS) analyses. The Qinling Mountains (32 • 30 −34 • 45 N, 104 • 30 −112 • 45 E), which is mainly located in the south of Shaanxi province in central China, is the most important natural climatic boundary between the subtropical and warm temperate zones of China, and supports an astonishingly high biodiversity (Ma et al, 2018;Yuan et al, 2017;Huang et al, 2016;Wang et al, 2018). T. chinensis Baker grows in the valleys at altitudes of 500-2,400 m in Qinling Mountains region.…”

Diversity and Antimicrobial Activity of Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Chloranthus japonicus Sieb in Qinling Mountains, China

“…The Qinling Mountains (32°30′−34°45′ N, 104°30′−112°45′ E), which are mainly located in the south of Shaanxi province in central China, are the most important natural climatic boundary between the subtropical and warm temperate zones of China, and support an astonishingly high biodiversity [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. In particular, the Qinling Mountains are extremely rich in medicinal plants, including Sinopodophyllum hexandrum (Royle) Ying, Rohdea chinensis (Baker) N.Tanaka, Bergenia scopulosa TP Wang, Aconitum taipeicum Hand-Mazz, etc.…”