Thermal refugia and the survival of species in changing environments: new evidence from a nationally extinct freshwater fish

Variation in global climate during the Quaternary has helped shape current species distributions. The stenohaline fish fauna of the British Isles is generally thought to have colonised eastern England via a landbridge following the last glacial maximum. This theory is investigated using the national...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology of freshwater fish 2017-07, Vol.26 (3), p.415-423
Main Authors: Worthington, Thomas A., Van Houdt, Jeroen K. J., Hull, Joshua M., Kemp, Paul S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Base pairs
burbot
Changing environments
Climate
colonisation
Colonization
Conservation
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Divergence
DNA
Endangered & extinct species
Extinction
Fauna
Fish
Freshwater fish
freshwater fishes
Gene sequencing
Genetic analysis
glacial maximum
Ice ages
Islands
Mitochondrial DNA
Network analysis
Nucleotide sequence
phylogeography
Quaternary
Refugia
Rivers
Species extinction
Survival
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Summary:Variation in global climate during the Quaternary has helped shape current species distributions. The stenohaline fish fauna of the British Isles is generally thought to have colonised eastern England via a landbridge following the last glacial maximum. This theory is investigated using the nationally extinct burbot, Lota lota, as a model species. Samples were collected from 15 museum specimens of known English provenance and analysed for differences in the mitochondrial DNA control region. The DNA analysis produced eight sequences of 270 base pairs, with one sample reaching 420 base pairs in length. Genetic analysis suggests the extinct English population of the burbot was a distinct lineage, differing from those previously described from across the species’ global distribution. Despite this, network analysis suggests that the English lineage is closely related to populations in western Europe, supporting colonisation via a postglacial landbridge. The rate of genetic divergence suggests that the timing of L. lota's colonisation of English rivers was prior to the last glacial maximum. Lota lota appears to have survived the last glacial maximum in refugia within the British Isles. This study adds to the evidence for a British freshwater refugia and furthers our understanding of the colonisation history of British freshwater fishes. These results also provide valuable information for conservation strategies for L. lota indicating the western European clade as most genetically appropriate for potential future reintroductions to English rivers.
ISSN:0906-6691
1600-0633
DOI:10.1111/eff.12285