Genetic Population Structure and Allele Surfing During Range Expansion in Dynamic Habitats

Abstract: Expanding populations may loss genetic diversity because sequential founder events throughout a wave of demographic expansion may cause “allele surfing”, as the alleles of founder individuals may propagate rapidly through space. The spatial components of allele surfing have been studied by geneticists, but have never been investigate on dynamic and shifting habitats. Here we used an individual-based-model (IBM) to study how interactions between different habitat restoration scenarios and biological characteristics (dispersal capacity) affect the spatial patterns of the genetic st...