Intraspecific phylogeography of the slender madtom: the complex evolutionary history of the Central Highlands of the United States

Abstract

A number of different biogeographical studies of the Central Highlands of the United States have yielded conflicting area cladograms. We estimate the mtDNA phylogeny of populations of the slender madtom, Noturus exilis, a clear-water stream catfish. The goal is to compare population relationships to those reported in previous studies that used upland, stream-dwelling vertebrates. A region of the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 gene, along with adjacent tRNAs, was sequenced for population samples from 21 different Central Highlands rivers. Sequence difference among 39 haplotypes ranged from 0.1% to 4.8%. Most haplotypes were restricted to specific rivers and mapped well onto geography. Slender madtoms from different drainages contained mostly monophyletic groups of haplotypes genetically divergent from haplotypes found in other drainages, although a few haplotypes were found in well-separated drainages. The area cladogram for the slender madtom was not similar to any of the other cladograms for other species and species groups from the area. We discuss a variety of methodological and biological reasons for the discordance, and suggest that some of the discrepancies may be resolved by the sequencing of multiple genes per species. We recommend that more, and more extensive, intraspecific phylogeography studies should be conducted for species living in the Central Highlands rivers.

Phylogeography and conservation genetics of the hellbender salamander (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis)

“…Because a larger fragment of COI is desirable, we aligned the resultant sequence with that of Andrias davidianus (NC_004926) and used it to design the primers COI-CA-F1 (based on Andrias sequence alone) and COI-CA-R1 (based on Andrias/Cryptobranchus alignment), which amplify a 750 bp fragment. We amplified NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4) with ND4-Nex-F and ND4-Nex-R from Hardy et al (2002). These primers did not work for a number of hellbender samples, so we designed the hellbender specific primers ND4-Sal-F1 and ND4-Sal-R1 from Andrias davidianus (NC_004926) and hellbender sequence, which yielded a similar sized fragment.…”

“…Hardy et al (2002) studied the phylogeography of the slender madtom (Noturus exilis) because it has similar ecological requirements to the hellbender, yet they found few similarities to hellbenders in their phylogeographic relationships. A review of Ozark biogeography included in Fetzner and Crandall's (2003) work on the Ozark crayfish (Orconectes luteus) shows there is little concordance among most Ozark species groups.…”

Phylogeographic Analyses Suggest Multiple Lineages of Crystallaria asprella (Percidae: Etheostominae)

“…Whether or not historical vicariant events caused by glaciations have been the predominant force shaping genetic diversity between regions has been tested in many faunas: fishes (Mayden 1988;Grady et al 1990;Turner et al 1996;Strange and Burr 1997;Near et al 2001;Hardy et al 2002); a salamander (Routman et al 1994); and crayfishes (Crandall and Templeton 1999). Non-concordant Table 2 for supporting statistics).…”

“…patterns of divergence have been found among taxa, leading many to conclude that a combination of vicariance events along with dispersal from glacial refugia are likely historical forces that have shaped divergences among co-distributed taxa (Strange and Burr 1997;Crandall and Templeton 1999;Near et al, 2001;Hardy et al, 2002). Note that all widely distributed darters examined to date have shown similar deep divergences between disjunct (highland) populations (Percina (Odontopholis) spp.…”

Development and characterization of microsatellite loci of Microglanis cottoides (Siluriformes: Pseudopimelodidae) and cross-species amplification

“…These studies also serve to understand migration events, vicariance and extinction of gene lineages, and other processes that affect the population structure or generate speciation in a spatial and temporal context (Avise, 2001(Avise, , 2009Hardy et al, 2002).…”