Female philopatry may influence antipredatory behavior in a solitary mammal

Whether neighboring individuals are related or not has a number of important ecological & evolutionary ramifications. Kin selection resulting from philopatry can play an important role in social and antipredatory behavior. Ground squirrels exhibit alarm vocalizations in the presence of predators; however, the degree to which kin selection shapes alarm calling behavior varies with species ecology and the degree of relatedness between neighbors. We studied a solitary ground squirrel species that exhibits sex-biased calling propensity to determine if female philopatry may be responsible for sex differences in antipredatory behavior observed in our population. We used double digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq) to sample the genomes of Harris's antelope squirrel (<i>Ammospermophilus harrisii</i>) to determine the relatedness between individuals and test whether genetic and geographic distance were correlated. We found that geographic distance had a positive relationship with genetic distance, and that this relationship was sex-dependent, suggesting male-biased dispersal. Our results provide supporting evidence that female philopatry may be responsible for higher calling propensity observed in female squirrels, potentially influencing antipredatory behavior in this species <i>via</i> kin selection. Our findings add to a growing body of evidence that philopatry is an important ecological driver influencing sociospatial organization in solitary species.