Identification of landscape features influencing gene flow: how useful are habitat selection models?

Understanding how dispersal patterns are influenced by landscape heterogeneity is critical for modelling species connectivity. Resource selection function (RSF) models are increasingly used in landscape genetics approaches. However, because the ecological factors that drive habitat selection may be different from those influencing dispersal and gene flow, it is important to consider their explicit assumptions. We calculated pairwise genetic distances among 301 Alaskan Dall’s sheep (Ovis dalli dalli) using an intensive sampling effort and 15 microsatellite loci. We used multiple regression of distance matrices to assess the correlation of pairwise genetic distance and landscape resistance derived from an RSF, and combinations of landscape features hypothesized to influence dispersal. Dall’s sheep gene flow was positively correlated with steep slopes, moderate peak normalized difference vegetation indices (NDVI), and open land cover. Whereas RSF covariates were significant in predic...