Influence of habitat fragmentation on population structure of red deer in Croatia

The genetic structure of red deer populations is under strong influence of human activities such as game management and habitat fragmentation. Using multilocus genotypes from 193 geo-referenced individuals, we evaluated the population genetic structure of three red deer populations in Croatia. The effect of habitat fragmentation on genetic structure was tested using Bayesian non-spatial and spatial clustering methods. Our results indicate levels of genetic diversity similar to the ones previously reported by other authors for stable and appropriately managed populations within all populations analyzed. The spatial clustering model was able to detect the effect of habitat fragmentation on population differentiation, supporting the use of spatially explicit methods in landscape genetics, and giving important guidelines for future road planning.