Ecologically distinct species may respond to landscape changes in different ways. In addition to basic ecological data, the extent of the geographic range has been successfully used as an indicator of species sensitivity to anthropogenic landscapes, with widespread species usually found to be less sensitive compared to range-restricted species. In this study, we investigate connectivity patterns of two closely related but ecologically distinct newt species – the range-restricted, Lissotriton montandoni and the widespread, L. vulgaris – using genomic data, a highly replicated setting (six geographic regions per species), and tools from landscape genetics. Our results show the importance of forest for connectivity in both species, but at the same time suggest differential use of forested habitat, with L. montandoni and L. vulgaris showing the highest connectivity at forest-core and forest-edges, respectively. Anthropogenic landscapes (i.e., higher crop- or urban-cover) increased resistance in both species, but the effect was one to three orders of magnitude stronger in L. montandoni than in L. vulgaris. This result is consistent with a view of L. vulgaris as an ecological generalist. Even so, currently, the negative impact of anthropogenic landscapes is mainly seen in connectivity among L. vulgaris populations, which show significantly stronger isolation and lower effective sizes relative to L. montandoni. Overall, this study emphasizes how habitat destruction is compromising genetic connectivity not only in endemic, range-restricted species of conservation concern but also in widespread generalist species, despite their comparatively lower sensitivity to anthropogenic landscape changes.

See associated publication for details.

R_scripts_newts_connectivity

This folder includes R scripts used for replicated ResistanceGA analyses, model transferability and visualization of results. Includes input necessary to run analyses: 1) Fst matrices; 2) Population coordinates; and 3) Rasters from landscape variables. For more details see associated publication and README file.

Landscape_genetics_dataset

Genomic data used for landscape genetic analyses in .vcf and .ped format (and associated .map). For more details see associated publication and README file.

Ne_dataset

Genomic data used for effective population size analyses in .vcf and .ped format (and associated .map). For more details see associated publication and README file.