Multiscale patterns of isolation by ecology and fine-scale population structure in Texas bobcats

Imogene A Cancellare; Elizabeth M Kierepka; Jan Janecka; Byron Weckworth; Richard T Kazmaier; Rocky Ward

doi:10.7717/peerj.11498

Multiscale patterns of isolation by ecology and fine-scale population structure in Texas bobcats

PeerJ. 2021 Jun 3:9:e11498. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11498. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Imogene A Cancellare^{1

2}, Elizabeth M Kierepka³, Jan Janecka⁴, Byron Weckworth⁵, Richard T Kazmaier¹, Rocky Ward¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Life, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas, USA.
² Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
³ Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
⁴ Department of Biological Sciences, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁵ Panthera, New York, New York, USA.

Abstract

Patterns of spatial genetic variation can be generated by a variety of ecological processes, including individual preferences based on habitat. These ecological processes act at multiple spatial and temporal scales, generating scale-dependent effects on gene flow. In this study, we focused on bobcats (Lynx rufus), a highly mobile, generalist felid that exhibits ecological and behavioral plasticity, high abundance, and broad connectivity across much of their range. However, bobcats also show genetic differentiation along habitat breaks, a pattern typically observed in cases of isolation-by-ecology (IBE). The IBE observed in bobcats is hypothesized to occur due to habitat-biased dispersal, but it is unknown if this occurs at other habitat breaks across their range or at what spatial scale IBE becomes most apparent. Thus, we used a multiscale approach to examine isolation by ecology (IBE) patterns in bobcats (Lynx rufus) at both fine and broad spatial scales in western Texas. We genotyped 102 individuals at nine microsatellite loci and used partial redundancy analysis (pRDA) to test if a suite of landscape variables influenced genetic variation in bobcats. Bobcats exhibited a latitudinal cline in population structure with a spatial signature of male-biased dispersal, and no clear barriers to gene flow. Our pRDA tests revealed high genetic similarity in similar habitats, and results differed by spatial scale. At the fine spatial scale, herbaceous rangeland was an important influence on gene flow whereas mixed rangeland and agriculture were significant at the broad spatial scale. Taken together, our results suggests that complex interactions between spatial-use behavior and landscape heterogeneity can create non-random gene flow in highly mobile species like bobcats. Furthermore, our results add to the growing body of data highlighting the importance of multiscale study designs when assessing spatial genetic structure.

Keywords: Bobcat; Gene flow; Isolation by ecology; Landscape genetics; Lynx rufus; Redundancy analysis; Spatial autocorrelation.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by West Texas A&M University Graduate School and the West Texas A&M University Killgore Research Grant Program. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.