Dataset Information

Coexisting cyclic parthenogens comprise a holocene species flock in Eubosmina.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Mixed breeding systems with extended clonal phases and weak sexual recruitment are widespread in nature but often thought to impede the formation of discrete evolutionary clusters. Thus, cyclic parthenogens, such as cladocerans and rotifers, could be predisposed to "species problems" and a lack of discrete species. However, species flocks have been proposed for one cladoceran group, Eubosmina, where putative species are sympatric, and there is a detailed paleolimnological record indicating a Holocene age. These factors make the Eubosmina system suitable for testing the hypotheses that extended clonal phases and weak sexual recruitment inhibit speciation. Although common garden experiments have revealed a genetic component to the morphotypic variation, the evolutionary significance of the morphotypes remains controversial. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:In the present study, we tested the hypothesis of a single polymorphic species (i.e., mixing occurs but selection maintains genes for morphology) in four northern European lakes where the morphotypes coexist. Our evidence is based on nuclear DNA sequence, mitochondrial DNA sequence, and morphometric analysis of coexisting morphotypes. We found significant genetic differentiation, genealogical exclusivity, and morphometric differentiation for coexisting morphotypes. CONCLUSIONS:We conclude that the studied morphotypes represent a group of young species undergoing speciation with apparent reproductive barriers despite coexistence in the freshwater pelagic zone.

SUBMITTER: Faustova M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2905414 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Coexisting cyclic parthenogens comprise a holocene species flock in Eubosmina.

Faustová Markéta M Sacherová Veronika V Sheets H David HD Svensson Jan-Erik JE Taylor Derek J DJ

PloS one 20100716 7

<h4>Background</h4>Mixed breeding systems with extended clonal phases and weak sexual recruitment are widespread in nature but often thought to impede the formation of discrete evolutionary clusters. Thus, cyclic parthenogens, such as cladocerans and rotifers, could be predisposed to "species problems" and a lack of discrete species. However, species flocks have been proposed for one cladoceran group, Eubosmina, where putative species are sympatric, and there is a detailed paleolimnological reco ...[more]

PMID: 20661283

Similar Datasets

Project description:Climate oscillations are the key factors to understand the patterns in modern biodiversity. East Asia harbors the most diverse temperate flora, largely because an extensive terrestrial ice cap was absent during repeated Pleistocene glaciation-interglacial cycles. Comparing the demographic histories of species that are codistributed and are close relatives may provide insight into how the process of climate change influences species ranges. In this study, we compared the spatial genetic structure and demographic histories of two coexisting Eleutherococcus species, Eleutherococcus senticosus and E. sessiliflorus. Both species are distributed in northern China, regions that are generally considered to be sensitive to climatic fluctuations. These regions once hosted temperate forest, but this temperate forest was replaced by tundra and taiga forest during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), according to pollen records. Using three chloroplast DNA fragments, we assessed the genetic structure of 20 and 9 natural populations of E. senticosus and E. sessiliflorus, respectively. Extremely contrasting genetic patterns were found between the two species; E. sessiliflorus had little genetic variation, whereas E. senticosus had considerably higher levels of genetic variation (15 haplotypes). We speculated that a recent severe bottleneck may have resulted in the extremely low genetic diversity in E. sessiliflorus. In E. senticosus, populations in Northeast China (NEC) harbored all of the haplotypes found in this species and included private haplotypes. The populations in NEC had higher levels of genetic diversity than did those from North China (NC). Therefore, we suggest that both the NC and NEC regions can sustain LGM refugia and that lineage admixture from multiple refugia took place after the LGM elevated the local genetic diversity in NEC. In NEC, multiple genetic hot spots were found in the Changbai Mountains and the Xiaoxing'an Range, which implied that multiple locations in NEC may sustain LGM refugia, even in the Xiaoxing'an Range.

Dataset Information

Coexisting cyclic parthenogens comprise a holocene species flock in Eubosmina.

Publications

Coexisting cyclic parthenogens comprise a holocene species flock in Eubosmina.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets