Abstract:
1. Simulation models are essential tools in landscape genetics to study how genetic processes are affected by landscape heterogeneity.However, there is still a need to develop different simulation approaches in landscape genetics, so that users may dispose of additional programs to explore further the impact of land-use and land-cover changes on population genetics.
2. We developed a spatially explicit, individual-based, forward-time, landscape-genetic simulation model combined with a landscape cellular automaton to represent evolutionary processes of adaptation and population dynamics in changing landscapes, using the NetLogo environment.
3. This simulation model represents a unique tool for scientists and scholars looking for a practical and pedagogical framework to explore both empirical and theoretical situations.
