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Data and code from: Landscape-driven isolation among, but high genetic diversity within, peripheral populations of a threatened frog

Rainey, Travis1; Nicholson, Kirsten2; Wells, Caitlin1; Swanson, Bradley2

Published Dec 15, 2025 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tqjq2bwbw

Data files

Abstract

This data and code were used in a conservation genetics study of Blanchard’s Cricket Frog (Acris blanchardi; BCF) at the species’ northern range edge. We assessed genetic diversity, population structure, and landscape genetics across the southern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. We genotyped 777 frogs from 41 sites using 14 microsatellite markers. We ran the population assignment algorithm, STRUCTURE, to infer genetic populations and admixture. Twenty distinct genetic populations were found across Michigan sites. We evaluated the effects of landscape features, including geographic distance, on pairwise genetic distances we calculated for all pairwise combinations between sampled sites. The perceptual range of BCF is unknown, and landscape features can have different scales of effect, so we modelled landscape effects on genetic differentiation at different scales. Pairwise geographic distances, pairwise genetic distances, and various landscape composition and configuration variables quantified within pairwise landscape strips are included, but specific site coordinates are excluded due to the conservation status of BCF in Michigan. These are the code and data associated with the article “Landscape-driven isolation among, but high genetic diversity within, peripheral populations of a threatened frog” in the journal, Diversity and Distributions. These files offer groundwork for further assessment of landscape effects on BCF via different modelling methods, and offer a baseline for future assessments.