Data from: Genetic diversity and population structure in contemporary house sparrow populations along an urbanization gradient.

House sparrow (Passer domesticus) populations have suffered major declines in urban as well as rural areas, while remaining relatively stable in suburban ones. Yet, to date no exhaustive attempt has been made to examine how, and to what extent, spatial variation in population demography is reflected in genetic population structuring along contemporary urbanization gradients. Here we use putatively neutral microsatellite loci to study if and how genetic variation can be partitioned in a hierarchical way among different urbanization classes. Principal coordinate analyses did not support the hypothesis that urban/suburban and rural populations comprise two distinct genetic clusters. Comparison of FST values at different hierarchical scales revealed drift as an important force of population differentiation. Redundancy analyses revealed that genetic structure was strongly affected by both spatial variation and level of urbanization. The results shown here can be used as baseline information for future genetic monitoring programmes and provide additional insights into contemporary house sparrow dynamics along urbanization gradients.

家麻雀（Passer domesticus）的种群在城市与乡村区域均出现大幅下降，而在郊区区域则保持相对稳定。然而迄今为止，尚无全面研究探讨种群动态的空间差异如何、以及在多大程度上体现在当代城市化梯度下的种群遗传结构中。本研究利用推定中性微卫星位点，探究遗传变异能否以及如何在不同城市化等级间以层级结构进行划分。主坐标分析（Principal coordinate analyses）未支持“城市/郊区与乡村种群构成两个独立遗传聚类群”的假说。对不同层级尺度下的FST值进行比较后发现，遗传漂变是种群分化的重要驱动力。冗余分析（Redundancy analyses）结果显示，种群遗传结构同时受到空间变异与城市化水平的显著影响。本研究结果可作为未来遗传监测计划的基准信息，并为揭示城市化梯度下当代家麻雀的种群动态提供新的见解。