Free Standard AU & NZ Shipping For All Book Orders Over $80!
Register      Login
Marine and Freshwater Research Marine and Freshwater Research Society
Advances in the aquatic sciences
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Genetic structure and phylogeography of freshwater shrimps (Macrobrachium australiense and Macrobrachium tolmerum): the role of contemporary and historical events

Suman Sharma A B and Jane M. Hughes A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Qld 4111, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: ssharma90@hotmail.com

Marine and Freshwater Research 60(6) 541-553 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF07235
Submitted: 3 December 2007  Accepted: 29 December 2008   Published: 19 June 2009

Abstract

Freshwater species are expected to show higher levels of genetic structuring than those inhabiting estuarine or marine environments because it is difficult for freshwater species to move between river systems. Previous genetic studies of freshwater species from coastal streams in south-east Queensland had proposed that several of these streams had a common confluence relatively recently, when sea levels were lower ~10 000 years bp. The present study was undertaken to test this idea using two freshwater shrimp species, Macrobrachium australiense and Macrobrachium tolmerum. In M. australiense, there was a major phylogeographical break in the middle of the Sunshine Coast region that was expected to be homogeneous because these creeks may have had a shared confluence before entering the sea, possibly because of extremely limited dispersal abilities compounded over many generations. In M. tolmerum, there was evidence of a recent population expansion and also some evidence of limited gene flow between sites. This is explained by recent colonisation of the area and limited gene flow between river systems, despite the ability of this species to survive in brackish water conditions. The present study shows that even species that are taxonomically very close and that co-occur in the same habitats can have vastly different population structures.

Additional keywords: allozymes, AMOVA, mitochondrial DNA, nested clade analysis.


Acknowledgements

Several people helped us with fieldwork. However, we particularly acknowledge the help of Mia Hillyer, Tim Page, Ben Cook and James Fawcett in collecting the samples around south-east Queensland. We thank Chris Walsh and an anonymous referee for their useful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Funding for the project was provided by the Australian School of Environmental Studies, Griffith University, and the Co-operative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology.


References

Aris-Brosou, S. , and Excoffier, L. (1996). The impact of population expansion and mutation rate heterogeneity on DNA sequence polymorphism. Molecular Biology and Evolution 13, 494–504.
CAS | PubMed | Avise J. C. (2000). ‘Phylogeography: The History and Formation of Species.’ (Harvard University Press: Cambridge.)

Bermingham, E. , and Avise, J. C. (1986). Molecular zoogeography of freshwater fishes in the south-eastern United States. Genetics 113, 939–965.
CAS | PubMed | Bermingham E., McCafferty S., and Martin A. P. (1997). Fish biogeography and molecular clocks: perspectives from the Panamanian isthmus. In ‘Molecular Systematics of Fishes’. (Eds T. D. Kocher and C. A. Stepien.) pp. 113–126. (Academic Press: London.)

Birky, C. W. , Fuerst, P. , and Maruyama, T. (1989). Organelle gene diversity under migration, mutation and drift: equilibrium expectations, approach to equilibrium, effects of heteroplasmic cells and comparison to nuclear genes. Genetics 121, 613–627.
PubMed | Coaldrake J. E. (1961). The ecosystem of the coastal lowlands (‘wallum’) of southern Queensland. CSIRO Bulletin No. 283, CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia.

Cook, B. D. , Bunn, S. E. , and Hughes, J. M. (2002). Genetic structure and dispersal of Macrobrachium australiense (Decapoda : Palaemonidae) in western Queensland, Australia. Freshwater Biology 47, 2098–2112.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | CAS | Frakes L. A., McGowran B., and Bowler J. M. (1987). Evolution of Australian environments. In ‘Fauna in Australia’. (Eds G. R. Dyne and D. W. Walton.) pp. 1–16. (CSIRO: Canberra.)

Fu, Y. X. (1997). Statistical tests of neutrality of mutations against population growth, hitchhiking and background selection. Genetics 147, 915–925.
CAS | PubMed | Kneipp I. J. (1979). The ecology of Macrobrachium species (Decapoda, Palaemonidae) in a coastal stream in North Queensland. PhD Thesis, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.

Knowles, L. L. , and Maddison, W. P. (2002). Statistical phylogeography. Molecular Ecology 11, 2623–2635.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | Richardson B. J., Baverstock P. R., and Adams M. (1986). ‘Allozyme Electrophoresis: a Handbook for Animal Systematics and Population Studies.’ (Academic Press: Sydney.)

Riek, E. F. (1951). The Australian freshwater prawns of the family Palaemonidae. Records of the Australian Museum 22, 358–367.
Schneider S., Kueffer J., Roessli D., and Excoffier L. (1997). ‘Arlequin Exploratory Molecular Genetics Software Version 1.1.’ (Genetics and Biometry Laboratory, University of Geneva: Geneva.)

Schneider S., Roessli D., and Excoffier L. (2000). ‘Arlequin Version 2.000. A Software for Population Genetics and Population Data Analysis.’ (Genetics and Biometry Laboratory, University of Geneva: Geneva.)

Short, J. W. (2004). A revision of Australian river prawns, Macrobrachium (Crustacea : Decapoda : Palaemonidae). Hydrobiologia 525, 1–100.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Slatkin, M. (1993). Isolation by distance in equilibrium and non-equilibrium populations. Evolution 47, 264–279.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Tajima, F. (1989). Statistical method for testing the neutral mutation hypothesis by DNA polymorphism. Genetics 123, 585–595.
CAS | PubMed |

Tamura, K. , and Aotsuka, T. (1988). Rapid isolation method of animal mitochondrial DNA by the alkaline lysis procedure. Biochemical Genetics 26, 815–819.
CAS | PubMed |

Templeton, A. R. (2004). Statistical phylogeography: methods of evaluating and minimizing inference errors. Molecular Ecology 13, 789–809.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |

Templeton, A. R. , and Sing, C. F. (1993). A cladistic analysis of phenotypic associations with haplotypes inferred from restriction endonuclease mapping IV. Nested analysis with cladogram uncertainty and recombination. Genetics 134, 659–669.
CAS | PubMed |

Templeton, A. R. , Boerwinkle, E. , and Sing, C. F. (1987). A cladistic analysis of phenotypic associations with haplotypes inferred from restriction endonuclease mapping. I. Basic theory and an analysis of alcohol dehydrogenase activity in Drosophila. Genetics 117, 343–351.
CAS | PubMed |

Templeton, A. R. , Routman, E. , and Phillips, C. A. (1995). Separating population structure from population history: a cladistic analysis of the geographic distribution of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in the tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum. Genetics 140, 767–782.
CAS | PubMed |

Ward, R. D. , Woodwark, M. , and Skibinski, O. F. (1994). A comparison of genetic diversity levels in marine, freshwater and anadromous fishes. Journal of Fish Biology 44, 213–232.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Waters, J. M. , Lintermans, M. , and White, R. W. G. (1994). Mitochondrial DNA variation suggests river capture as a source of vicariance in Gadopsis bispinosus (Pisces : Gadopsidae). Journal of Fish Biology 44, 549–551.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Waters, J. M. , Craw, D. , Youngson, J. H. , and Wallis, G. P. (2001). Genes meet geology: fish phylogeographic pattern reflects ancient, rather than modern, drainage connections. Evolution 55, 1844–1851.
CAS | PubMed |

Weir, B. S. , and Cockerham, C. C. (1984). Estimating F-statistics for the analysis of population structure. Evolution 38, 1358–1370.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Whitlock, M. C. , and McCauley, D. E. (1999). Indirect measures of gene flow and migration: FST≠1/(4Nm+1). Heredity 82, 117–125.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |

Woolschot, L. , Hughes, J. M. , and Bunn, S. E. (1999). Dispersal among populations of Caridina sp. (Decapoda : Atyidae) in coastal lowland streams, south-eastern Queensland, Australia. Marine and Freshwater Research 50, 681–687.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Wright, S. (1951). The genetical structure of populations. Annals of Eugenics 15, 323–354.