Data from: Wildfires induce a reduction in body size and morphological variation of an insular endemic insect

Anthropogentic disturbance is known to affect population sizes and genetic
population structure of many biotas. Wildfires are a major disturbance in
many regions of the world, particularly in Mediterranean regions and on
the Atlantic islands. Populations of many insects, such as the Madeiran
Green Bush-Cricket (Psalmatophanes barretoi), are threated by wildfies.
However, the effects of wildfires on genetic structure and diversity as
well as morphological variation of the populations reamins little
understood. Therefore, we studied genetic diversity, structure, and
potential bottlenecks of this species using microsatellites. We also
studied morphological variation and fluctuating asymmetry within and
between populations to unravel potential effects of wildfires. We did not
find any evidence for genetic differentiation of populations, but some
populations had high heterozygosity excess, regardless of burning.
Morphological variation in burnt areas was lower than in non-burnt areas.
Flucturating Asymmetry of the wing length was significantly higher in
burnt areas. Our results show that even genetically well-connected
populations may suffer from bottlenecks leading to reduced morphological
variation after disturbance.