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Genetic legacy of tertiary climatic change: a case study of two freshwater loaches, Schistura fasciolata and Pseudogastromyzon myersi, in Hong Kong.

ABSTRACT: The high biodiversity and strong population structure of freshwater fauna has often been attributed to historical geological and climatic alterations. The impact of these historical changes on obligate freshwater species on a small geographical scale has not been well understood due to the lack of fine-scale comparative phylogeographic studies. Strong population structure has been reported in a goby and a caridean shrimp in Hong Kong, a small but highly developed city in South China, but the common drivers of population differentiation in freshwater fauna in this region remain unclear. This study examined the fine-scale phylogeographic patterns of two freshwater loaches, Schistura fasciolata and Pseudogastromyzon myersi in Hong Kong, using sequence data of mitochondrial control region and two nuclear markers (interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein gene 2 and ribosomal protein S13 gene). Results show that they exhibit pronounced population structure as supported by high and significant Φ_ST. Phylogenetic analyses based on the control region reveal six and three distinct lineages in S. fasciolata and P. myersi, respectively. Phylogeographic structure of both species generally follows the paleodrainage pattern, though P. myersi shows a shallower structure on the Mainland, perhaps due to their higher mobility. Most of these lineages diverged during the Pliocene and Late Pleistocene, a period with marked sea-level fluctuations. In a broader context, this suggests that sea-level fluctuation played an important role in shaping even the fine-scale population structure of freshwater fish in South China, implying that the genetic diversity of this fauna may be higher than expected.

SUBMITTER: Wong WY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5637367 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:During the last years, the city of Hong Kong has made large investments to make its urban water supply system more water efficient and sustainable. As such, its municipal water abstraction - often defined as direct water use - has decreased from 355 litre per capita per day (l/cap/d) in 2005 to 326 l/cap/d in 2013. Due to its political history, Hong Kong is unique in the world in data availability on urban food consumption. It is therefore the ideal case study to show typical urban food consumption behaviour and its related indirect water use. The objective of this paper is to show the large water quantities associated with indirect water use and that the citizens of Hong Kong can additionally save much more water by looking at this indirect water use. The current average diet in Hong Kong is very different to the average Chinese diet. It is characterised by a high intake of water intensive products like animal products and sugar, leading to a food related indirect water use or water footprint (WFcons) of 4727 l/cap/d. According to recommendations from the Chinese Nutrition Society for a healthy diet, the intake of some product groups should be increased (vegetables and fruit) and of other product groups reduced (sugar, crop oils, meat and animal fats). This would result in a reduction of the WFcons of 40% to 2852 l/cap/d. Especially the reduced intake of meat (including offals) from currently 126 kg per capita per year (kg/cap/yr) to the recommended value 27 kg/cap/yrwould results in a substantial WFcons reduction. Meat consumption in Hong Kong is extremely high. A pesco-vegetarian diet would result in a reduction of 49% (to 2398 l/cap/d) and a vegetarian diet in a 53% (to 2224 l/cap/d) reduction. Hong Kong citizens can thus save a lot of water through a change in their diet. Many of the products consumed, contribute to different levels of blue water scarcity in the regions of origin Hong Kong imports from. This poses a water-related risk to food security in Hong Kong. As all diet scenarios also result in a lower blue WFcons, they decrease this risk. In order to become sustainable, (mega)cities should reduce their dependency on distant resources and ecosystems.

Dataset Information

Genetic legacy of tertiary climatic change: a case study of two freshwater loaches, Schistura fasciolata and Pseudogastromyzon myersi, in Hong Kong.

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