Population structure of the large Japanese field mouse, Apodemus speciosus (Rodentia: Muridae), in suburban landscape, based on mitochondrial D-loop sequences

Genetic structure of the large Japanese field mouse populations in suburban landscape of West Tokyo, Japan was determined using mitochondrial DNA control region sequence. Samples were collected from six habitats linked by forests and green tract along the Tama River, and from two forests segregated by urban areas from those continuous habitats. Thirty-five haplotypes were detected in 221 animals. Four to eight haplotypes were found within each local population belonging to the continuous landscape. Some haplotypes were shared by two or three adjacent local populations. On the other hand, two isolated habitats were occupied by one or two indigenous haplotypes. Significant genetic differentiation between all pairs of local populations, except for one pair in the continuous habitats, was found by analysis of molecular variance (amova). The geographical distance between habitats did not explain the large variance of pairwise F(ST)-values among local populations. F(ST)-values between local populations segregated by urban areas were higher than those between local populations in the continuous habitat, regardless of geographical distance. The results of this study demonstrated quantitatively that urban areas inhibit the migration of Apodemus speciosus, whereas a linear green tract along a river functions as a corridor. Moreover, it preserves the metapopulation structure of A. speciosus as well as the corridors in suburban landscape.