Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Landscape and Urban Planning journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/landurbplan Research Paper The effects of a motorway on movement behaviour and gene flow in a forest carnivore: Joint evidence from road mortality, radio tracking and genetics Filipe Carvalho a,b,c,d, ⁎ ,1 , André Lourenço a,e, ⁎ ,1 , Rafael Carvalho c,d , Paulo C. Alves a,e,f , António Mira c,d , Pedro Beja a,g a CIBIO/InBio, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal b Department of Zoology and Entomology, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa c CIBIO/InBio-UE – Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade de Évora, Pólo de Évora, Casa do Cordovil 2° Andar, 7000-890 Évora, Portugal d Unidade de Biologia da Conservação, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Évora, Núcleo da Mitra, 7002-554 Évora, Portugal e Departamento de Biologia da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua Campo Alegre, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal f Wildlife Biology Program, College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA g CEABN/InBio, Centro de Ecologia Aplicada “Professor Baeta Neves”, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Anthropogenic barriers Conservation genetics Genetta genetta Habitat fragmentation Movement ecology Road ecology ABSTRACT Roads represent barriers to animal movement due to physical obstruction, mortality, or behavioural avoidance. The population-level consequences of such constraints remain poorly understood, because successful crossings may be sufficient to counteract negative effects of fragmentation and isolation. Here we examine the individual- and population-level barrier effects of a motorway on the common genet Genetta genetta, by combining long-term road mortality, radio tracking and population genetics data. We found 84 genets killed at roads, of which 68% were subadults, with a peak mortality during the dispersal period. The home ranges of resident adults often bordered the motorway, and their sizes were similar close to (314 ha, n = 9) and far from (258 ha, n = 10) the motorway. The crossing rate was much higher for dispersing subadults (4.1 crossings/100 nights, n = 3) than for resident adults living near the motorway (0.2 crossings/100 nights, n = 9), though the number of tracked subadults crossing the motorway was low. Genetic kinship analysis revealed seven crossings based on father- offspring and half-sibling relationships. There was no significant genetic differentiation related to the motorway. The movement of residents were strongly constrained by the motorway, though gene flow mediated by suc- cessful crossings, particularly by subadults, likely prevented genetic differentiation. Genet movements across the motorway were probably facilitated by low traffic flow and the presence of crossing structures. Our study implies that evaluating mitigation strategies to reduce the barrier effects of roads would benefit from the integration of mortality, animal behaviour, and population genetics data, to increase effectiveness and avoid wasting scarce conservation resources. 1. Introduction The successful movement of animals across heterogeneous land- scapes is an important driver of ecological, demographic, and evolu- tionary processes, and is critical for the long-term persistence of species (Baguette, Blanchet, Legrand, Stevens, & Turlure, 2013; Clobert, Baguette, Benton, & Bullock, 2012). This type of movement is parti- cularly relevant in human-dominated landscapes, where anthropogenic activities lead to the fragmentation of habitat and reductions in connectivity among habitat fragments (Crooks, Burdett, Theobald, Rondinini, & Boitani, 2011; Fischer & Lindenmayer, 2007). In this context, linear elements of transportation infrastructure, such as roads, may compromise the persistence of animal populations, because they can significantly impair the movement of individuals due to physical obstruction, road mortality (Jackson & Fahrig, 2011; van Langevelde & Jaarsma, 2004), or behavioural avoidance (Beyer, Ung, Murray, & Fortin, 2013; Riley et al., 2006). Given the worldwide expansion of road networks (Ceia-Hasse, Borda-de-Água, Grilo, & Pereira, 2017), it is https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.06.007 Received 18 October 2016; Received in revised form 9 June 2018; Accepted 20 June 2018 ⁎ Corresponding authors at: CIBIO/InBio, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal. 1 These authors contributed equally to this work. E-mail addresses: filipescpcarvalho@gmail.com (F. Carvalho), andrelourenco300@gmail.com (A. Lourenço). Landscape and Urban Planning 178 (2018) 217–227 0169-2046/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. T