Data from: Social organisation and genetic structure: insights from co-distributed bat populations

The impact of ecology and social organisation on genetic structure at landscape spatial scales, where gene dynamics shape evolution as well as determine susceptibility to habitat fragmentation, is poorly understood. Attempts to assess these effects must take into account the potentially confounding effects of history. We used microsatellites to compare genetic structure in seven bat species with contrasting patterns of roosting ecology and social organisation, all of which are co-distributed in an ancient forest habitat that has been exceptionally buffered from radical habitat shifts. Over one thousand individuals were captured at foraging sites and genotyped at polymorphic microsatellite loci. Analyses of spatially explicit genotype data revealed inter-species differences in the extent of movement and gene flow and genetic structure across continuous intact forest. Highest positive genetic structure was observed in tree-roosting taxa that roost either alone or in small groups. By comparison, a complete absence of genetic autocorrelation was noted in the cave-roosting colonial species across the study area. Our results thus reveal measurable inter-species differences in the natural limits of gene flow in an unmodified habitat, which we attribute to contrasting roosting ecology and social organisation. The consequences of ecology and behaviour for gene flow have important implications for conservation. In particular, tree-roosting species characterised by lower vagility and thus gene flow will be disproportionally impacted by landscape-scale forest clearance and habitat fragmentation, which are prevalent in the study region. Our method also highlights the usefulness of rapid sampling of foraging bats for assaying genetic structure, particularly where roosting sites are not always known.

在景观空间尺度下，生态学特征与社会组织模式对遗传结构的影响尚未得到充分阐明——其中基因动态既塑造演化进程，也决定了物种对栖息地破碎化的易感性。若要评估此类影响，必须将历史事件潜在的混淆效应纳入考量范畴。本研究利用微卫星（microsatellites）标记，对7种具有迥异栖息生态学与社会组织模式的蝙蝠物种的遗传结构进行比较分析；所有受试物种均为同域分布，栖息于一处受极端栖息地变化干扰程度极低的古老森林生境中。研究人员在觅食位点捕获了逾千只个体，并对其多态性微卫星位点进行了基因分型。对空间显式（spatially explicit）基因型数据的分析结果显示，在连续完整的森林生境中，不同蝙蝠物种的活动范围、基因流程度以及遗传结构均存在显著差异。独居或小群栖息的树栖类群呈现出最高的正向遗传结构；相比之下，在整个研究区域内，集群栖息的洞栖类群未检测到任何遗传自相关（genetic autocorrelation）现象。综上，本研究结果揭示了未受干扰生境中基因流自然上限的种间差异，此类差异可归因于不同类群栖息生态学与社会组织模式的迥异。生态学特征与行为模式对基因流的影响，对物种保护工作具有重要的指导意义。具体而言，本研究区域内普遍存在景观尺度的森林砍伐与栖息地破碎化现象，而扩散能力较弱、伴随基因流水平较低的树栖物种，将受到不成比例的严重影响。此外，本研究方法还凸显了通过快速采样觅食蝙蝠来评估遗传结构的实用性，尤其是在栖息位点难以确定的情况下。