What can optimized cost distances based on genetic distances offer? A simulation study on the use and misuse of ResistanceGA.

Modelling population connectivity is central to biodiversity conservation and often relies on resistance surfaces reflecting multi-generational gene flow. ResistanceGA (RGA) is a common optimization framework for parameterizing these surfaces by maximizing the fit between genetic distances and cost distances using maximum likelihood population effect models. As the reliability of this framework has rarely been studied, we investigated the conditions maximizing its accuracy for both prediction and interpretation of landscape features' permeability.

Validating graph-based connectivity models with independent presence-absence and genetic data sets.

Habitat connectivity is a key objective of current conservation policies and is commonly modeled by landscape graphs (i.e., sets of habitat patches [nodes] connected by potential dispersal paths [links]).

Integrative characterization of genetic and phenotypic differentiation in an ant species complex with strong hierarchical population structure and low dispersal abilities.

Low dispersal, occurrence of asexual reproduction and geographic discontinuity increase genetic differentiation between populations, which ultimately can lead to speciation. In this work, we used a multidisciplinary framework to characterize the genetic and phenotypic differentiation between and within two cryptic ant species with restricted dispersal, Cataglyphis cursor and C. piliscapa and used behavioral experiments to test for reproductive isolation.

Habitat fragmentation matters more than habitat loss: The case of host-parasite interactions.

While ecologists agree that habitat loss has a substantial negative effect on biodiversity it is still very much a matter of debate whether habitat fragmentation has a lesser effect and whether this effect is positive or negative for biodiversity. Here, we assess the relative influence of tropical forest loss and fragmentation on the prevalence of vector-borne blood parasites of the genera Plasmodium and Haemoproteus in six forest bird species. We also determine whether habitat loss and fragmentation are associated with a rise or fall in prevalence.

Habitat fragmentation differentially shapes neutral and immune gene variation in a tropical bird species.

Habitat fragmentation is a major cause of biodiversity loss, responsible for an alteration of intraspecific patterns of neutral genetic diversity and structure. Although neutral genetic variation can be informative for demographic inferences, it may be a poor predictor of adaptive genetic diversity and thus of the consequences of habitat fragmentation on selective evolutionary processes. In this context, we contrasted patterns of genetic diversity and structure of neutral loci (microsatellites) and immune genes (i.