Dispersal, gene flow, and allelic diversity between local populations of Thomomys bottae pocket gophers in the coastal ranges of California

Abstract

Dispersal was common in pre-reproductive juvenile females throughout the breeding season of their birth. Males on the other hand tended to disperse only from the end of the breeding season. Although dispersal was common 63% of adults appeared to be recruited within 40m of where they were born. Gene flow occurred into both established populations and into vacant habitat, but is was too low to reduce the differences in gene frequencies between the fields over 7yr. Allelic diversity was thus a balance between random drift due to small effective population size and gene flow. -from Authors