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Fine-scale population structure of masked shrews (Sorex cinereus) in an experimentally fragmented forest

University of British Columbia

Habitat fragmentation is perhaps the most important issue facing conservation efforts today. Forests in BC are becoming increasingly fragmented and knowledge about how species respond to different types of forest fragmentation is important for effective management of biological resources. This thesis attempts to use genetic techniques to address this issue. The population genetic structure of masked shrews, Sorex cinereus, was measured for a population in an experimentally fragmented forest near Sicamous Creek, BC. Two highly polymorphic microsatellite markers revealed a significant deficit of heterozygotes in the population (Fis=0.31), which has not previously been reported for shrew populations but may be partly due to the presence of null alleles at these loci. Estimates of pairwise relatedness reveal family structure in the population, wherein related individuals tend to be sampled near one another. This may explain the significant difference that is observed in allelic and genotypic distributions between forest treatment blocks, despite the low FST over the study site (0.006). No significant difference in population structure between types of harvest treatments and the uncut controls was observed. Since only 3 generations of shrews have passed since logging of the study site, these results describe the short-term impact of forest harvest on the population structure of masked shrews and should be supplemented with future studies in order to gauge the long-term effects of habitat fragmentation on the population.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-08-18

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/12352

Genetics

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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