Population genomics of the Flat-tailed Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma mcallii) can inform rangewide management strategy across a fragmented Colorado Desert landscape

The Flat-tailed Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma mcallii) is a species of conservation concern in the Colorado Desert of the United States and Mexico. The species has a small geographic range that straddles the hyper-arid Colorado River delta and is naturally and geopolitically fragmented. Since 1997, 13 federal and state agencies have participated in a Rangewide Management Strategy, which explicitly states the need to determine genetic variation and the effects of landscape barriers among populations to better conserve and manage this species. To achieve this goal, we sampled nuclear loci from FTHL genomes using ddRADseq to estimate population structure, infer phylogeny, identify migration barriers, map genetic diversity hotspots, and model demography.Authors: Andrew D. Gottscho(1), Dan Mulcahy(1), Kevin de Queiroz(1), Adam Leache(2), Robert E. Lovich(3)(1) Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10th St and Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC 20560(2) Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle WA 98195(3) Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, San Diego, CA 02132