Data from: Fractured genetic connectivity threatens a southern California puma (Puma concolor) population

Pumas (Puma concolor; also known as mountain lions and cougars) in
southern California live among a burgeoning human population of roughly 20
million people. Yet little is known of the consequences of attendant
habitat loss and fragmentation, and human-caused puma mortality to puma
population viability and genetic diversity. We examined genetic status of
pumas in coastal mountains within the Peninsular Ranges south of Los
Angeles, in San Diego, Riverside, and Orange counties. The Santa Ana
Mountains are bounded by urbanization to the west, north, and east, and
are separated from the eastern Peninsular Ranges to the southeast by a ten
lane interstate highway (I-15). We analyzed DNA samples from 97 pumas
sampled between 2001 and 2012. Genotypic data for forty-six microsatellite
loci revealed that pumas sampled in the Santa Ana Mountains (n = 42)
displayed lower genetic diversity than pumas from nearly every other
region in California tested (n = 257), including those living in the
Peninsular Ranges immediately to the east across I-15 (n = 55). Santa Ana
Mountains pumas had high average pairwise relatedness, high individual
internal relatedness, a low estimated effective population size, and
strong evidence of a bottleneck and isolation from other populations in
California. These and ecological findings provide clear evidence that
Santa Ana Mountains pumas have been experiencing genetic impacts related
to barriers to gene flow, and are a warning signal to wildlife managers
and land use planners that mitigation efforts will be needed to stem
further genetic and demographic decay in the Santa Ana Mountains puma
population.