Yuma myotis (Myotis yumanensis; MYYU) is a species of vespertilionid bat native to western North America, ranging from southern Alaska to Mexico. Research focused on MYYU species distribution, ecology, and movement suggests that MYYU is widespread within its range, non-migratory, and has limited dispersal ability. While previous genomic analyses provide evidence for fine-scale population structure across the species’s range, mechanisms underlying this differentiation have not been resolved. Due to the limited dispersal capability of MYYU, it is plausible that landscape features differentially constrain or facilitate individuals’ movement and gene flow. For example, barriers or corridors to movement based on configurations of suitable habitat may explain patterns of genomic differentiation. Alternatively, local adaptation to different ecological or environmental conditions may moderate gene flow and explain patterns of differentiation. Using whole genome re-sequencing data from 45 MYYU sampled from across California, we evaluated geographical, environmental, and ecological correlates of genomic differentiation and statistically evaluated support for different models used to explain these patterns, including isolation by distance, isolation by resistance, and isolation by environment. We found significant support for models of isolation by distance and resistance, but not isolation by environment, indicating that different ecological or environmental conditions do not moderate genetic differentiation in the species. Findings from this study can be used to inform ongoing conservation management for MYYU, including the establishment of management units across the species’ range and increased understanding of population connectivity that can be used to make predictions about the spread of white-nose syndrome in the state.

Joseph Curti, Ph.D. (he/they) is a postdoctoral research fellow at the UCLA La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science. Joey’s current research focuses on the impacts of anthropogenic stressors on bat community composition in urban areas across California. Joey received his Ph.D. in 2024 from the UCLA Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department, where he worked with statewide resource managers on a variety of conservation genomics projects. These included a project aimed at evaluating the impact of roadways in Los Angeles to California quail (Callipepla californica) gene flow and rangewide landscape genomics of the Yuma myotis bat (Myotis yumanensis).