A simulation approach to studying the relationship between landscape features and social system on the genetic structure of a tamarin primate population APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE:

Acknowledgements First and foremost, I want to thank Anthony Di Fiore, my advisor, for all his insightful comments and support throughout the development of this document. Without his support, guidance, advice and expertise this master's report would not have been possible. I will also like to thank Mariah Hopkins for her comments and valuable advice. I truly appreciate all the help and expertise provided by my fellow lab mates and graduate students here in the Department of Anthropology, especially Andrew Barr, Addison Kemp and Kelsey Ellis. I also want to thank Edgar Costa for all the expertise, advice and support provided during the programming phase of this study, as well as to my family for their unconditional love and support. Finally, I will like to specially thank the Schlumberger Foundation " Faculty for the Future " program for funding my research and studies. Abstract The interplay of landscape features and social system on the genetic Landscape genetics is an emerging field that seeks to understand how specific landscape features and microevolutionary processes such as gene flow, genetic drift, and selection interact to shape the amount and spatial distribution of genetic variation. This study explores, through agent based simulations, how the specific mating and social system of tamarin primates (genus Saguinus) influences population genetic structure and patterns of relatedness within and among groups of this primate species, which might affect the ability of landscape genetic studies to detect the effects of fragmentation on gene flow. I use a spatially-explicit agent-based population genetics simulation model (GENESYS) configured to reflect the particular social system of tamarin monkeys (i.e. small group size, limited numbers of breeders per group, frequent twin births, and short dispersal distances) to assess whether the isolation by distance model of genetic differentiation expected in an unfragmented landscape can be distinguished from the isolation by barrier model expected in a fragmented landscape. GENESYS allows a user vi to explore the effects of social structure and landscape features on the population genetic structure of social animals, such as primates. I simulated two different landscapes containing an otherwise equivalent population of tamarins. In the first setup I simulated a homogeneous landscape unconstrained by any barriers to gene flow, while for the second setup, a barrier to gene flow restricted dispersal from one half of the landscape to the other. I found that the particular mating system of tamarin results in the rapid genetic …