Fragmentation of Atlantic Forest has not affected gene flow of a widespread seed-dispersing bat

Habitat loss and resultant fragmentation are major threats to biodiversity, particularly in tropical and subtropical ecosystems. It is increasingly urgent to understand fragmentation effects, which are often complex and vary across taxa, time and space. We determined whether recent fragmentation of Atlantic forest is causing population subdivision in a widespread and important Neotropical seed-disperser: Artibeus lituratus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae). Genetic structure within highly fragmented forest in Paraguay was compared to that in mostly contiguous forest in neighboring Misiones, Argentina. Further, observed genetic structure across the fragmented landscape was compared with expected levels of structure for similar timespans in realistic simulated landscapes under different degrees of reduction in gene flow. If fragmentation significantly reduced successful dispersal, greater population differentiation and stronger isolation-by-distance would be expected in the fragmented than in ...