24-Sep-2001
Excerpt: Landscape management practices that alter the degree of habitat fragmentation can significantly affect the genetic structure of animal populations. British red squirrels use "stepping stone" patches of habitat to move considerable distances through a fragmented habitat. (.. ) planting of a large conifer forest has connected groups of forest fragments in the north of England with those in southern Scotland. This "defragmentation" of the landscape has resulted in substantial genetic mixing (.. ) in squirrel populations up to 100 kilometers from the site of the new forest.
- Impact of Landscape Management on Genetic Structure of Squirrel Populations, Marie L. Hale, Peter W. ?. Lurz, Mark D. F. Shirley, Steven Rushton, Robin M. Fuller, Kirsten Wolff , Science 2001 293: 2246-2248