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Advances in the aquatic sciences
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Contrasting demographic histories of European and North American sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) populations inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequence variation

Martin J. Genner A F , Robert Hillman B , Matthew McHugh C , Stephen J. Hawkins D and Martyn C. Lucas E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UG, UK.

B Environment Agency, Sir John Moore House, Victoria Square, Bodmin, Cornwall, PL31 1EB, UK.

C Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB, UK.

D Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK.

E School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3 LE, UK.

F Corresponding author. Email: m.genner@bristol.ac.uk

Marine and Freshwater Research 63(9) 827-833 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF12062
Submitted: 4 March 2012  Accepted: 23 August 2012   Published: 8 October 2012

Abstract

Populations of anadromous sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) have been found to be largely genetically homogeneous across western Europe, and across the eastern seaboard of North America. However, comparatively little is known of the relationship between the European and North American populations. We quantified the extent of population structuring present over a transatlantic scale using mitochondrial DNA sequences. We found clear segregation of the populations on either side of the Atlantic, and considerable genetic homogeneity within Europe over a spatial scale of over 2000 km. The North American populations contained larger genetic diversity than those from Europe, and coalescent analyses showed a corresponding greater overall effective population size. Employing calibration points based on a dated phylogeny of the Petromyzontiformes, our analyses indicated that the North American population has been increasing in effective size since establishment ~500 000 years ago, while the total European population has only undergone population expansion only within the last 125 000 years. This evidence is consistent with a colonisation of Europe from an older North American population, and with the European population persisting through the last glaciation within regional refugia.

Additional keywords : Bayesian skyline plots, lamprey phylogeny, migratory fishes, regional panmixia, transatlantic divergence.


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