Effects of habitat selection and anthropogenic disturbance on microevolution in Rocky Mountain elk

We are implementing a combined genetics and spatial analysis of elk (Cervus elaphus) and their habitat in the Canadian Rockies. This study will examine relatedness and population structure among elk using 20 polymorphic microsatellite loci on 120 individual elk from 8 different herds. Each of these individuals has been fitted with a GPS/satellite collar and have had their location recorded approximately once every 2 hours for a period of 1–2 years. We hypothesize that individuals selecting for similar habitat types will be more closely related to each other than elk occupying different habitats types. Furthermore, habitat separations between family groups will likely lead to reproductive, rather than geographic, isolation. Habitat selection is also heavily influenced by humans, thus affecting both patterns of spatial use and genetic patterns of relatedness. Seeing as both natural and human–induced habitat selection may not be mutually exclusive from one another, we aim to monitor the effects human activity on elk habitat selection and genetic structure. Such processes may potentially lead to reproductive isolation of demes, thus proving to be a basic mechanism for microevolution