Molecular Ecology, Vol. 13 (2004), No. 11, pp.3275-3282
Population structure of the large Japanese field mouse, Apodemus speciosus (Rodentia: Muridae) in suburban landscape, based on mitochondrial D-loop sequences
Tadao Hirota12, Tetsuo Hirohata1, Hiroshi Mashima1, Toshiyuki Satoh1 and Yoshiaki Obara1
1Laboratory of Ethology, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
2Department of Biology, Division of Natural Sciences, International Christian University
Abstract
Genetic structure of the large Japanese field mouse populations in suburban landscape in West Tokyo of Japan was determined using mitochondrial DNA control region sequence. Samples were collected at six habitats linked by forests and green tract along the Tama River, and at two forests segregated by urban areas from those continuous habitats. Thirty-five haplotypes were detected in the 221 animals. Four to eight haplotypes were found within each local population belonging to the continuous landscape. Some haplotypes were shared by two or three adjacent local populations. On the other hand, two isolated habitats were occupied by one or two indigenous haplotypes. Significant genetic differentiation between all pairs of local populations except for one pair in continuous habitats was found by analysis of molecular variance. The geographical distance between habitats did not explain large variance of pairwise FST-values among local populations. FST-values between local populations segregated by urban areas were higher than those between local populations in the continuous habitat regardless of geographical distance. Results demonstrated quantitatively that urban areas inhibit the migration of A. speciosus, whereas a linear green tract along a river functions as corridors and preserves their metapopulation structure and corridors in suburban landscape.