Landscape genetics: a novel but well consolidated discipline

• Main Author: Majela Hernández Rodríguez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad de La Habana 2020-07-01
• Series: Revista del Jardín Botánico Nacional
• Subjects: aislamiento por distancia; análisis espacial; ecología del paisaje; genética poblacional
• Online Access: http://www.rjbn.uh.cu/index.php/RJBN/article/view/453

Landscape genetics integrates population genetics, landscape ecology and spatial statistics to quantify the effect of landscape composition, configuration and matrix quality on gene flow and spatial genetic variation. These studies allow us to analyze the influence of landscape variables on genetic variation, identify barriers to gene flow, evaluate and create biological corridors, understand the spatial and temporal scale of ecological processes, to test species-specific evolutionary hypotheses and support measures of management in endangered species. In just two decades of research on landscape genetics, the tools and methods of genetic and  spatial analysis used by this discipline have been improved. Despite its potential, there are no landscape genetics studies in Cuba, so this review offers an overview of the current state of landscape genetics as a discipline, its applications and the main methods of analysis that allow to correlate the genetic patterns with the environmental characteristics. The creation of multidisciplinary work teams that allow complex and well-fundamented studies from both disciplines (population genetics and landscape ecology), could guarantee the emergence and expansion of landscape genetic in the Cuban scientific community. Citation: Hernández, M. 2020. Genética del paisaje: una disciplina joven pero bien consolidada. Revista Jard. Bot. Nac. Univ. Habana 41: 1-13. Article history: Received: 15 November 2019. Accepted: 17 January 2020. Online: 3 June 2020. Editor: Luis Manuel Leyva.