Bocage landscape restricts the gene flow of pest vole populations

The population dynamics of most animal species inhabiting agroecosystems may be determined by landscape characteristics, with agricultural intensification and reduction of natural habitats influencing dispersal patterns. Increasing landscape complexity would thus benefit endangered species by providing different ecological niches, but it could also lead to undesired effects in species that can act as crop pests and disease reservoirs. We tested the hypothesis that a highly variegated landscape influences the dispersal, and hence patterns of genetic structure, in agricultural pest voles. Ten populations of fossorial water vole, Arvicola scherman, located in a bocage landscape in Atlantic NW Spain were studied using DNA microsatellite markers and a graph-based model. The results showed a strong isolation-by-distance pattern with a strong and significant genetic correlation at smaller geographic scales, while genetic differentiation at larger geographic scales indicated a hierarchical patt...