Data from: The walk is never random: subtle landscape effects shape gene flow in a continuous white-tailed deer population in the Midwestern United States

One of the pervasive challenges in landscape genetics is detecting gene
flow patterns within continuous populations of highly mobile wildlife.
Understanding population genetic structure within a continuous population
can give insights into social structure, movement across the landscape and
contact between populations, which influence ecological interactions,
reproductive dynamics, or pathogen transmission. We investigated the
genetic structure of a large population of deer spanning the area of
Wisconsin and Illinois, USA, affected by chronic wasting disease. We
combined multi-scale investigation, landscape genetic techniques and
spatial statistical modeling to address the complex questions of landscape
factors influencing population structure. We sampled over 2,000 deer and
used spatial autocorrelation and a spatial principal components analysis
to describe the population genetic structure. We evaluated landscape
effects on this pattern using a spatial auto-regressive model within a
model selection framework to test alternative hypotheses about gene flow.
We found high levels of genetic connectivity, with gradients of variation
across the large continuous population of white-tailed deer. At the fine
scale, spatial clustering of related animals was correlated with the
amount and arrangement of forested habitat. At the broader scale,
impediments to dispersal were important to shaping genetic connectivity
within the population. We found significant barrier effects of individual
state and interstate highways and rivers. Our results offer an important
understanding of deer biology and movement that will help inform the
management of this species in an area where over-abundance and disease
spread are primary concerns.