| Summary: | The strength and arrangement of movement barriers can impact the connectivity among habitat patches. Anthropogenic barriers (e.g. roads) are a source of habitat fragmentation that can disrupt these resource networks and can have an influence on the spatial genetic structure of populations. Using microsatellite data, we evaluated whether observed genetic structure of moose (Alces alces) populations were associated with human activities (e.g. roads) in the urban habitat of Anchorage and rural habitat on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. We found evidence of a recent genetic subdivision among moose in Anchorage that corresponds to a major highway and associated infrastructure. This subdivision is most likely due to restrictions in gene flow due to alterations to the highway (e.g. moose-resistant fencing with one-way gates) and a significant increase in traffic volume over the past 30 years; genetic subdivision was not detected on the Kenai Peninsula in an area not bisected by a major highway. This study illustrates that anthropogenic barriers can substructure wildlife populations within a few generations and highlights the value of genetic assessments to determine the effects on connectivity among habitat patches in conjunction with behavioral and ecological data. Genotypic data and spatial coordinates of female moose in AlaskaThis file contains genotype data from ten microsatellites and spatial coordinates of female moose from two populations in south-central Alaska (Anchorage and Kenai Peninsula Game Management Unit 15C). Individuals are also indicated whether they were part of a telemetry/movement study (collared) from which annual home range size was estimated or if sample was obtained from a hunter. This file was used for to generate infiles for genetic structure analyses in Geneland and R package adegent (sPCA).Genotypic_data_and_spatial_ coordinates_Alaska_Moose.xlsxGeneland infilesThis zipped folder contains the infiles for used for the program Geneland. The spatial coordinate file is in UTMs (zone 6 for ...
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