| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立東華大學 === 自然資源管理研究所 === 98 === For terrestrial animal with limited dispersal ability, rivers represent natural barriers which may create non-continuous habitats and limit gene flows among populations. On the other hand, human settlement and road construction through wildlife habitats represent artificial barriers, resulting habitat fragmentation. In this study, I used a set of nine microsatellite loci as genetic markers to reveal the effects of both natural and artificial barriers on the population differentiation of the Luye Grass Lizard (Takydromus luyeanus), a small-sized lizard with limited movement ability. I genotyped 362 individuals from 14 sites located on both sides of Mugua and Shoufeng rivers and on both sides of Taiwan Provincial Highway 9. I found that River isolation did not cause genetic differentiation of Luye Grass Lizard populations on both sides of the rivers, with extremely low fixation index (FST = 0.003-0.005). Bayesian population assignment test revealed a single population (K = 1). Similarly, Taiwan Provincial Highway 9 did not cause the genetic differentiation of the Luye Grass Lizard on both sides of the road (FST = 0.0042-0.0473). However, we detected a weak population differentiation of the lizards on the northern and southern Fengtian village. No isolation-by-distance was detected and the estimates of recent gene flow between populations were low. In conclusion, no significant natural and artificial geographical barriers were detected in this study, however, low recent gene flow among populations indicated that the dispersal ability of the Luye Grass Lizard is low and they are prone to be divided by various obstacles.
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