Dispersal in the wood frog (Rana sylvatica): implications for genetic population structure

Abstract

Recapture of wood frogs in 5 Appalachian Mountain (Shenandoah Mts) ponds showed adults to be 100% faithful to the ponds in which they first bred, but 18% of the juveniles dispersed to breed in ponds other than the one of origin. Effective population sizes were generally smaller than the population censuses and genetic neighborhoods had an average radius of 1126 m. Ponds within about a 1000 m radius should show little genetic differentiation; ponds separated by a distance >1000 m should experience little gene flow and show higher genetic differentiation. -from Authors