Population connectivity and phylogeography of a coastal fish, Atractoscion aequidens (Sciaenidae), across the Benguela Current region: evidence of an ancient vicariant event.

Contemporary patterns of genetic diversity and population connectivity within species can be influenced by both historical and contemporary barriers to gene flow. In the marine environment, present day oceanographic features such as currents, fronts and upwelling systems can influence dispersal of e...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Romina Henriques, Warren M Potts, Carmen V Santos, Warwick H H Sauer, Paul W Shaw
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0087907&type=printable
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850024156312109056
author Romina Henriques
Warren M Potts
Carmen V Santos
Warwick H H Sauer
Warwick H H Sauer
Paul W Shaw
author_facet Romina Henriques
Warren M Potts
Carmen V Santos
Warwick H H Sauer
Warwick H H Sauer
Paul W Shaw
author_sort Romina Henriques
collection DOAJ
description Contemporary patterns of genetic diversity and population connectivity within species can be influenced by both historical and contemporary barriers to gene flow. In the marine environment, present day oceanographic features such as currents, fronts and upwelling systems can influence dispersal of eggs/larvae and/juveniles/adults, shaping population substructuring. The Benguela Current system in the southeastern Atlantic is one of the oldest upwelling systems in the world, and provides a unique opportunity to investigate the relative influence of contemporary and historical mechanisms shaping the evolutionary history of warm-temperate fish species. Using the genetic variation in the mitochondrial DNA Control Region and eight nuclear microsatellite DNA loci, we identified the presence of two highly divergent populations in a vagile and warm-temperate fish species, Atractoscion aequidens, across the Benguela region. The geographical distributions of the two populations, on either side of the perennial upwelling cell, suggest a strong correlation between the oceanographic features of the system and the breakdown of gene flow within this species. Genetic divergence (mtDNA φ ST = 0.902, microsatellite F ST = 0.055: probability of genetic homogeneity for either marker = p<0.001), absence of migrants (less than 1% per generation) between populations and coalescent estimates of time since most recent common ancestor suggest that the establishment of the main oceanographic features of the system (2 million years ago), particularly the strengthening and position of the perennial upwelling cell, is the most likely mechanism behind the observed isolation. Concordance between mitochondrial and nuclear genetic markers indicates that isolation and divergence of the northern and southern Benguela populations of A. aequidens occurred deep in the past and has continued to the present day. These findings suggest that the Benguela Current system may constitute an ancient and impermeable barrier to gene flow for warm-temperate fish species.
format Article
id doaj-art-d2d1f70152e54774afca6388b44bf6b2
institution DOAJ
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2014-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-d2d1f70152e54774afca6388b44bf6b22025-08-20T03:01:11ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0192e8790710.1371/journal.pone.0087907Population connectivity and phylogeography of a coastal fish, Atractoscion aequidens (Sciaenidae), across the Benguela Current region: evidence of an ancient vicariant event.Romina HenriquesWarren M PottsCarmen V SantosWarwick H H SauerWarwick H H SauerPaul W ShawContemporary patterns of genetic diversity and population connectivity within species can be influenced by both historical and contemporary barriers to gene flow. In the marine environment, present day oceanographic features such as currents, fronts and upwelling systems can influence dispersal of eggs/larvae and/juveniles/adults, shaping population substructuring. The Benguela Current system in the southeastern Atlantic is one of the oldest upwelling systems in the world, and provides a unique opportunity to investigate the relative influence of contemporary and historical mechanisms shaping the evolutionary history of warm-temperate fish species. Using the genetic variation in the mitochondrial DNA Control Region and eight nuclear microsatellite DNA loci, we identified the presence of two highly divergent populations in a vagile and warm-temperate fish species, Atractoscion aequidens, across the Benguela region. The geographical distributions of the two populations, on either side of the perennial upwelling cell, suggest a strong correlation between the oceanographic features of the system and the breakdown of gene flow within this species. Genetic divergence (mtDNA φ ST = 0.902, microsatellite F ST = 0.055: probability of genetic homogeneity for either marker = p<0.001), absence of migrants (less than 1% per generation) between populations and coalescent estimates of time since most recent common ancestor suggest that the establishment of the main oceanographic features of the system (2 million years ago), particularly the strengthening and position of the perennial upwelling cell, is the most likely mechanism behind the observed isolation. Concordance between mitochondrial and nuclear genetic markers indicates that isolation and divergence of the northern and southern Benguela populations of A. aequidens occurred deep in the past and has continued to the present day. These findings suggest that the Benguela Current system may constitute an ancient and impermeable barrier to gene flow for warm-temperate fish species.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0087907&type=printable
spellingShingle Romina Henriques
Warren M Potts
Carmen V Santos
Warwick H H Sauer
Warwick H H Sauer
Paul W Shaw
Population connectivity and phylogeography of a coastal fish, Atractoscion aequidens (Sciaenidae), across the Benguela Current region: evidence of an ancient vicariant event.
PLoS ONE
title Population connectivity and phylogeography of a coastal fish, Atractoscion aequidens (Sciaenidae), across the Benguela Current region: evidence of an ancient vicariant event.
title_full Population connectivity and phylogeography of a coastal fish, Atractoscion aequidens (Sciaenidae), across the Benguela Current region: evidence of an ancient vicariant event.
title_fullStr Population connectivity and phylogeography of a coastal fish, Atractoscion aequidens (Sciaenidae), across the Benguela Current region: evidence of an ancient vicariant event.
title_full_unstemmed Population connectivity and phylogeography of a coastal fish, Atractoscion aequidens (Sciaenidae), across the Benguela Current region: evidence of an ancient vicariant event.
title_short Population connectivity and phylogeography of a coastal fish, Atractoscion aequidens (Sciaenidae), across the Benguela Current region: evidence of an ancient vicariant event.
title_sort population connectivity and phylogeography of a coastal fish atractoscion aequidens sciaenidae across the benguela current region evidence of an ancient vicariant event
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0087907&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT rominahenriques populationconnectivityandphylogeographyofacoastalfishatractoscionaequidenssciaenidaeacrossthebenguelacurrentregionevidenceofanancientvicariantevent
AT warrenmpotts populationconnectivityandphylogeographyofacoastalfishatractoscionaequidenssciaenidaeacrossthebenguelacurrentregionevidenceofanancientvicariantevent
AT carmenvsantos populationconnectivityandphylogeographyofacoastalfishatractoscionaequidenssciaenidaeacrossthebenguelacurrentregionevidenceofanancientvicariantevent
AT warwickhhsauer populationconnectivityandphylogeographyofacoastalfishatractoscionaequidenssciaenidaeacrossthebenguelacurrentregionevidenceofanancientvicariantevent
AT warwickhhsauer populationconnectivityandphylogeographyofacoastalfishatractoscionaequidenssciaenidaeacrossthebenguelacurrentregionevidenceofanancientvicariantevent
AT paulwshaw populationconnectivityandphylogeographyofacoastalfishatractoscionaequidenssciaenidaeacrossthebenguelacurrentregionevidenceofanancientvicariantevent