DOI: 10.5061/dryad.7d7wm3825
title: Genetic diversity, gene flow, and landscape resistance in a pond-breeding amphibian in agricultural and natural forested landscapes in Norway

description: Genetic diversity is a key part of biodiversity, threatened by human
 activities that lead to loss of gene flow and reduction of effective
 population sizes. Gene flow is a result of both landscape connectivity and
 demographic processes determining the number of dispersing individuals in
 space and time. Thus, the effect of human impact on processes determining
 the level of genetic diversity must be interpreted in the context of basic
 ecological conditions affecting survival and recruitment. When the
 intensity of human impact and habitat suitability correlate, the effect on
 genetic diversity and gene flow may be challenging to predict. We compared
 genetic diversity, gene flow, and landscape resistance in two contrasting
 landscapes in Norway for the pond-breeding amphibian Triturus cristatus: a
 highly human-impacted, agricultural landscape with ecologically productive
 habitats, and a forested landscape with less productive habitats and lower
 levels of human impact. Our results show that genetic diversity was higher
 and gene flow lower within the forested landscape. Microclimatic moisture
 conditions and vegetation cover were important determinants of landscape
 resistance to gene flow within both landscapes. There were indications
 that landscape resistance was increased by minor roads in the forested
 landscape, which was not the case for the agricultural landscape,
 suggesting a higher vulnerability to human interference within the
 landscape matrix for the populations in less productive habitats. Our
 findings suggest that the effect of human impact on genetic diversity may
 not be straightforward but modulated by the ecological conditions
 underlying local demographic processes. Populations within both landscapes
 seem to be vulnerable to loss of genetic diversity, but due to different
 mechanisms. This has implications for the choice of relevant management
 actions, i.e., increasing population stability may be more relevant within
 an agricultural landscape still permeable for dispersal, while conserving
 dispersal corridors may be more appropriate in the forested landscape, to
 avoid isolation and increased genetic drift.
description: # Genetic diversity, gene flow, and landscape resistance in a
 pond-breeding amphibian in agricultural and natural forested landscapes in
 Norway This dataset
 contains all genotypic information of all individual great newts (Triturus
 cristatus) used in the manuscript entitled “Genetic diversity, gene flow,
 and landscape resistance in a pond-breeding amphibian in agricultural and
 natural forested landscapes in Norway” authored by Hanne Haugen et. al.
 and published in the journal “Evolutionary Applications". It contains
 fragment lengths genotyped for 894 individuals using 12 microsatellite
 markers. In addition, the coordinates for each sample location. ##
 Description of the data and file structure The dataset contains two tables
 in semicolon-separated csv format. microsatellite_genotypes.csv * Column 1
 (Sample): unique code for each sampled individual. * column 2 (Pop):
 population from which the specimen was sampled from. * Column 3-26:
 diploid genotypes, expressed as fragment length (base pairs) for 12
 microsatellites (Tc66, Tc68b, Tc70, Tc81, Tcri13, Tcri27, Tcri35, Tcri36,
 Tcri46, Tcri43, Tc52, Tc85) Locations.csv * Column 1 (Population):
 Population ID * Column 2 (Pop name): Name of populations as referenced in
 the article. * Column 3 (Study area): Name of the study areas where the
 samples were collected. * Column 4-5: Coordinates for each sample
 location, format: UTM zone 32.