Water-level fluctuations and metapopulation dynamics as drivers of genetic diversity in populations of three Tanganyikan cichlid fish species
Nevado, Bruno (Centre de Recerca en Agrigenòmica)
Mautner, S. (Department of Zoology, Karl-Franzens-University Graz)
Sturmbauer, C. (Department of Zoology, Karl-Franzens-University Graz)
Verheyen, E. (Evolutionary Ecology Group, University of Antwerp)
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Data:	2013
Resum:	Understanding how genetic variation is generated and maintained in natural populations, and how this process unfolds in a changing environment, remains a central issue in biological research. In this work, we analysed patterns of genetic diversity from several populations of three cichlid species from Lake Tanganyika in parallel, using the mitochondrial DNA control region. We sampled populations inhabiting the littoral rocky habitats in both very deep and very shallow areas of the lake. We hypothesized that the former would constitute relatively older, more stable and genetically more diverse populations, because they should have been less severely affected by the well-documented episodes of dramatic water-level fluctuations. In agreement with our predictions, populations of all three species sampled in very shallow shorelines showed traces of stronger population growth than populations of the same species inhabiting deep shorelines. However, contrary to our working hypothesis, we found a significant trend towards increased genetic diversity in the younger, demographically less stable populations inhabiting shallow areas, in comparison with the older and more stable populations inhabiting the deep shorelines. We interpret this finding as the result of the establishment of metapopulation dynamics in the former shorelines, by the frequent perturbation and reshuffling of individuals between populations due to the lake-level fluctuations. The repeated succession of periods of allopatric separation and secondary contact is likely to have further increased the rapid pace of speciation in lacustrine cichlids.
Nota:	Altres ajuts: Most specimens used in this study were collected during different expeditions to Lake Tanganyika that were financed by the Belgian Science Policy (1992, 1995, 2001, 2006, and 2007), the two last in the context of MOLARCH-a EuroDIVERSITY Funded Collaborative Research Project, with additional support of the Leopold III Foundation for Nature Research and Nature Conservation to EV. CS was supported by grants I-48-B06 and P20994-B03 from the Austrian Science Foundation. During his stay at the RBINS, BN was supported by PhD grant SFRH ⁄ BD ⁄ 17704 ⁄ 2004 from the Fundaçao para a Ciência e Tecnologia.
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Genetic diversity ; Lake-level fluctuations ; Metapopulation dynamics ; Tanganyikan cichlids
Publicat a:	Molecular ecology, Vol. 22 (july 2013) , p. 3933-3948, ISSN 1365-294X

DOI: 10.1111/mec.12374
PMID: 23837841

16 p, 659.0 KB

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