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| The flat-headed bat, Tylonycteris pachypus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) is an insectivorous bat species and mainly distributes in tropical and semi-tropical areas. They usually roost in the forest of bamboo. Although T. pachypus has a close relationship with human, very few researches involve it, especially the population studies by molecular methods. The impact of destroyed environment and habitat fragmentation by human activities are being concerned by more and more researchers.
In this study, seven loci of these were used to analyze population structure and genetic diversity of 15 populations of T. pachypus. The results demonstrated: (1) Allelic richness was negatively correlated with longitude of sampling sites (b = -7.42, R2 = 0.31, P < 0.05) when considering all populations. Once the most southern population from Malaysia was discounted in the analysis, the decline was sharper and the determination coefficient higher (R2 = 0.36, P <0.05), further showing the robust of the colonization trend; (2) The analysis of population differentiation showed significant genetic differentiation across all populations (P < 0.001). Pair wise FST were also significant except some neighbor populations in Chongzuo region; (3) A strong isolation by distance was indicated across all populations (R2 = 0.63, P < 0.001), even only restricted in Chongzuo region (average distance only 30 km). In conclusion, restricted by the dependence on specific habitat and sedentary behavior, the gene flow between populations of T. pachypus was very limited and the individuals exchanges were seldom. The correlation between allelic richness and longitude suggested that protecting habitat in lower longitude areas is more significant and effective to T. pachypus. |
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| Keywords:ecology; lesser flat-headed bat, population genetic structure, dispersal, gene flow |
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