Landscape genetics: Wetlands

Abstract

Landscape genetics is defined as research that explicitly quantifies how landscape variables (such as configuration and matrix quality) affect patterns of genetic variation and gene flow. Landscape genetic questions are typically focused on recent gene flow and landscape changes, and therefore, landscape genetic studies are often used to address ecological and conservation questions (e.g., barriers and corridors, source-sink dynamics, influence of landscape change) that are difficult to answer with more traditional demographic methods. Landscape genetics uses genetic data as the dependent variable and typically attempts to correlate genetic relationships with several independent variables representing landscape or environmental data, usually from a geographical information systems (GIS) computer environment that allows the landscape data to be visualized and analyzed using spatial statistics.