RESEARCH ARTICLE Identifying environmental drivers of spatial genetic structure of the European pine marten (Martes martes) Marina Mergey . Clara Bardonnet . Thomas Quintaine . Maxime Galan . Carole Bodin . Pauline Hubert . Re ´mi Helder Received: 19 January 2017 / Accepted: 31 August 2017 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017 Abstract Context In a global context of erosion of biodiver- sity, the current environmental policy in Europe is oriented towards the creation and the preservation of ecological networks for wildlife. However, most of the management guidelines arose from a structural land- scape diagnostic without truly taking into considera- tion species’ needs. Objectives We tested whether and how landscape elements influence the functional connectivity of landscapes for a forest specialist species, the European pine marten (Martes martes), in Northeastern France. Methods We collected pine marten scats and tissues from 13 evenly distributed study sites across the whole study area in order to test several types of barriers such as highways, waterways, and open agricultural fields. We crossed the results of several methods: spatial autocorrelation analysis, causal modelling framework, and clustering methods. Results The study indicates significant genetic dif- ferentiation among the sampling sites. A signal of isolation by distance was detected but disappeared after partialling out landscape or barrier resistance. The only model that was fully supported by causal modelling was the one identifying waterways as the main driver of genetic differentiation. Moreover, clustering analyses indicated the presence of genetic clusters, suggesting that pine marten spatial genetic pattern could be explained by the presence of water- ways but also by their reluctance to cross open fields. Conclusions The current ecological network could thus be improved by increasing permeability of waterways, in particular navigation canals, and by maintaining and restoring forested corridors in agri- cultural plains. Keywords Gene flow Á Landscape Á Functional connectivity Á Waterway Á Barrier Á Microsatellites Á Martes martes Introduction In nature, species are rarely found in homogeneous units of randomly interacting individuals. The inter- action of both endogenous and exogenous forces results in spatial patterns of genetic variation (non random genotypic distribution in space, Templeton 2006). Dispersal capacity and efficiency, genetic drift, and evolutionary processes like natural selection play a major role in creating and maintaining genetic subdivision in continuously distributed species M. Mergey (&) Á C. Bardonnet Á T. Quintaine Á C. Bodin Á P. Hubert Á R. Helder URCA-CERFE, 4, rue de la he ´ronnie `re, 08240 Boult-Aux-Bois, France e-mail: marina.mergey@univ-reims.fr M. Galan CBGP-INRA, 755 avenue du Campus Agropolis, CS 30016, 34988 Montferrier-Sur-Lez Cedex, France 123 Landscape Ecol DOI 10.1007/s10980-017-0567-y