Landscape changes decrease genetic diversity in the Pallas’ long-tongued bat

Abstract

Species with high mobility may have low genetic differentiation among populations due to historicallong-distance dispersal, but recent studies show that bat dispersal may be affected by habitat loss andfragmentation. Here, we analyze the effects of landscape contemporary changes and dynamics in pale-odistribution during the Quaternary on genetic diversity and differentiation in the Pallas’ long-tonguedbat, Glossophaga soricina. We sampled 18 populations in landscapes with different land cover, and usednine microsatellite loci and the sequence of a fragment of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome b (CYB) toobtain genetic data. We performed ecological niche modelling and used general linear mixed models andoptimization of multiple resistance surfaces to analyze how landscape structure and climatic suitabilityaffect genetic diversity and differentiation. Our results show that the conversion of natural vegetation,such as forests and savannas, to agriculture, pastures or urban matrices (unsuitable habitats) decreasesgenetic diversity and increases inbreeding, but has no effect on genetic differentiation among popula-tions, that was likely affected by spatial distance. Our findings point to the importance of maintenance oflarge areas of natural vegetation remnants to conserve genetic diversity of G. soricina, an important batpollinator in the Neotropics.