Climate change and urbanization are resulting in rapid shifts to ecosystems, and understanding how species respond is critical for assessing potential impacts on evolutionary and ecological dynamics. Species generally respond in two major ways: through adaptation, or by moving to more suitable habitat. Adaptive genetic change can drive phenotypic responses that support persistence in changing environments, and characterizing these changes can aid in assessing the potential of populations to respond to anthropogenic and climatic pressures. Additionally, identifying the conditions that have historically defined suitable habitat is useful for projecting how habitat suitability may shift under future conditions. In this dissertation, I examined the impact of these changes in four populations of large terrestrial mammals. First, I explored how natural and anthropogenic landscape features predicted patterns of genetic diversity in a western population of Puma concolor. Next, I examined whether urbanization in the Florida Keys was selecting for genetic variants in Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium) associated with urban adaptation or domestication in other species. Finally, I assessed climate change vulnerability using patterns of genetic adaptation and current and future habitat suitability in two species of the Greater Everglades, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and Florida panthers (Puma concolor coryi). These results provide an applied assessment of the impacts of environmental change on these species, with the goal of informing their management as well as that of others.
George Zaragoza
Dr. Robert Fitak, Advisor
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