Landscape genetics
Our optimization process on five single resistance layers revealed convergence on the same predictor ranking in two runs using AICc. We found that elevation and roads was the best two models (Table 2). Elevation also received the highest support as the top-ranked single-surface model across all bootstrap iterations (Table S7). For the elevation model, optimized resistance was positively correlated with elevation, dramatically increasing at low elevation and reaching a plateau at approximately 1,500 m a.s.l. Although roughness was positively associated with resistance, it only exhibited a significant increase at high roughness (Fig. S9). Regarding road layer optimization, the category of highways displayed the highest resistance, acting as barriers to gene flow, whereas the category of main roads exhibited the lowest resistance compared to the patches category, denoting corridors for P. bengalensis (Fig. 4).