Abstract

The Eastern Cape Province harbors almost half of the indigenous forest in South Africa, but these forests are threatened by large-scale agricultural and urban development planned for the coming decade. Additional anthropogenic development is likely to cause further fragmentation and degradation of forests inhabited by the dusky pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus hesperidus). We used eight microsatellite markers to study the genetic diversity, population structure, and migration, of P. hesperidus (n = 120) across 14 sites in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa. We examined the effect of contemporary land cover types on genetic differentiation to assess whether current levels of urbanization and agricultural development affect gene flow. High gene flow and low population structure were evident across sampled sites, apart from genetic discontinuities at the northern (Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve) and southern (Alexandria Forest) ends of the seaboard. Genetic discontinuity at Oribi Gorge may relate to anthropogenic modification of two rivers surrounding the forest, while the Alexandria-linked barrier is a climatic break known as the Bedford gap. Migration rates generally were low between sites except for one Scarp forest, Manubi State Forest, from which individuals dispersed to other sites. The Amatole Mistbelt forests supported high genetic diversity, and likely served as a refugium for P. hesperidus during the Last Glacial Maximum. The composition of land cover classes between sites was a poor predictor of genetic differentiation, although it seems likely that P. hesperidus uses riparian habitats and wetlands for dispersal. Lastly, urban and agricultural development did not have a significant effect on genetic differentiation, which may reflect the wide niche breadth and intermediate distribution range of the species. This study provides insights into genetic diversity and gene flow of P. hesperidus across the study region prior to agricultural intensification and large-scale urbanization.

中文翻译：

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片段化不影响南非东部沿海阴暗的pipistrelle蝙蝠的森林种群中的基因流动

抽象的

东开普省拥有南非近一半的原始森林，但这些森林受到计划在未来十年进行的大规模农业和城市发展的威胁。额外的人为发展可能会导致由暗淡的Pipistrelle蝙蝠（Pipistrellus hesperidus）栖息的森林进一步破碎和退化。我们使用了8个微卫星标记来研究P的遗传多样性，种群结构和迁移。hesperidus（ñ= 120），分布在南非东开普省和夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省的14个站点中。我们研究了当代土地覆盖类型对遗传分化的影响，以评估当前的城市化水平和农业发展水平是否影响基因流动。除了在沿海北部（奥里比峡谷自然保护区）和南部（亚历山大森林）末端的遗传不连续性之外，整个采样点的高基因流量和低种群结构也很明显。奥里比峡谷（Oribi Gorge）的遗传不连续性可能与森林周围两条河流的人为改造有关，而与亚历山大大帝有关的障碍是被称为贝德福德（Bedford）缺口的气候破坏。除一个S树林（马努比州立森林）外，其他地点之间的迁徙率通常较低，个人从那里散布到其他地点。P。在最后一次冰河极盛期的橙子花。地点之间土地覆盖类别的组成不能很好地预测遗传分化，尽管似乎P可能。橙皮菊利用河岸生境和湿地进行散布。最后，城市和农业发展对遗传分化没有显着影响，这可能反映了该物种的广泛的利基宽度和中间分布范围。这项研究提供了对P的遗传多样性和基因流的见解。在农业集约化和大规模城市化之前，整个研究区的阔叶植物。