Three‐dimensional habitat structure and landscape genetics: a step forward in estimating functional connectivity

摘要: Estimating connectivity among fragmented habitat patches is crucial for evaluating the functionality of ecological networks. However, current estimates landscape resistance to animal movement and dispersal lack landscape-level data on local structure. Here, we used a genetics approach show that high-fidelity structure maps derived from Light Detection Ranging (LiDAR) critically improve functional compared conventional land cover data. We related pairwise genetic distances 128 Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) genotypes least-cost path at multiple scales Resulting β values linear mixed effects models ranged 0.372 0.495, while those LiDAR 0.558 0.758. The identification conservation networks suffering fragmentation homogenization will thus benefit growing availability detailed contiguous three-dimensional associated quality.