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Aliens are moving to the Arctic frontiers: an integrative approach reveals selective expansion of androgenic hybrid Corbicula lineages towards the North of Russia

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Abstract

Increases in human activity and climate change are factors that are expected to augment the number and impact of alien species in the northern regions. In the present paper, we report the discovery of a population of Asian Corbicula clams in the North of Russia near the Arctic frontier (64°N, 40°E), which is the most northern record of these invaders in the world. This population contains two distinct lineages that are living in sympatry in a man-made channel of the Arkhangelsk thermal power plant. The first lineage belongs to the morphotype Rlc by shell morphology but reveals the FW5 mtDNA haplotype (COI and 16S rRNA genes), which was typically recorded in the morphotype R. The second lineage reveals the shell morphological pattern of the morphotype R but has the FW17 mtDNA haplotype, which usually occurs in specimens of the morphotype S. Both forms that were identified, based on conchological and anatomical features and differences in mtDNA haplotypes, reveal the same 28S rDNA sequences but show intragenomic nDNA variability with two different variants of the 28S rDNA gene within each individual (allelic sequence heterogeneity). The discrepancy between mtDNA data and shell morphology could be explained by the well-known mechanism that is associated with androgenesis together with “egg parasitism” (mitochondrial genome-capture) in invasive Corbicula clams. The intragenomic 28S rDNA variability may be due to a hybridization event which can join different alleles from the two diploid (or polyploid) parental taxa to an allopolyploid descendant. We found that the lineages that rarely occur in European populations are exclusively established in a population near the Arctic frontier. Moreover, specimens belonging to the R-morphotype with the FW17 mtDNA haplotype that has sporadic occurrences in central Europe is prevalent (> 90% of a total sample) in a mollusk assemblage at the studied site in northern Russia. Additionally, we show that the life span of Corbicula clams in high latitudes may be longer than 1 year. Isolated Corbicula populations in artificially heated or geothermal reservoirs may therefore be primary sources for a broad invasion to seasonal waterbodies of the high-latitude regions in the future as climate warming progresses.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to O. N. Bespaliy for his valuable assistance with the collecting of material. We are thankful to the staff of the Arkhangelsk thermal power plant (TPP) for assistance in our studies of Corbicula clams. The Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations supported Yu. V. B. (morphological study and general analyses, Project No. 0409-2016-0022). The Ministry of Education and Science of Russian Federation supported A. V. K. and M. Yu. G. (molecular analyses and mapping, Project No. 6.2343.2017/4.6). The Russian Foundation for Basic Research supported Yu. V. B. (study of life cycle, Project No. 17-44-290436), I. N. B. (reviewing the text, Project No. 16-05-00854), and O. V. A. (study of mollusk assemblages, Project No. 17-44-290016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. N. Laverov Federal Center for Integrated Arctic Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Severnaya Dvina Emb. 23, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation, 163000

    Yulia V. Bespalaya, Ivan N. Bolotov, Olga V. Aksenova, Alexander V. Kondakov, Mikhail Yu. Gofarov, Svetlana E. Sokolova, Alexander R. Shevchenko & Oksana V. Travina

  2. Northern (Arctic) Federal University, Severnaya Dvina Emb. 17, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation, 163002

    Yulia V. Bespalaya, Ivan N. Bolotov, Olga V. Aksenova, Alexander V. Kondakov, Mikhail Yu. Gofarov & Alexander R. Shevchenko

  3. Scientific and Practical Center for Bioresources, The National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Akademicheskaya Street 27, 220072, Minsk, Republic of Belarus

    Tatyana M. Laenko

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  1. Yulia V. Bespalaya
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  2. Ivan N. Bolotov
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yulia V. Bespalaya.

Electronic supplementary material

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10530_2018_1698_MOESM1_ESM.docx

List of additional COI and 16S sequences of Corbicula clams obtained from NCBI’s GenBank, including taxon, gene, accession number, specimen code, locality information and data source

Hydrochemical characteristics of wastewater of the Arkhangelsk thermal power plant, Northern European Russia

10530_2018_1698_MOESM3_ESM.tiff

Intragenomic variability of the 28S rDNA gene in Corbicula clams from Northern European Russia. Seventeen specimens, which were sequenced (five specimens of the Rlc-morphotype and twelve specimens of the R-morphotype), revealed identical sequencing electropherograms with double peaks at five positions (indicated by red arrow on the illustrated fragment). The 28S rDNA sequences of two Corbicula lineages (Lee et al. 2005) that correspond to our sequences from Northern European Russia are given above. Additionally, the American Corbicula sp. form A shows the COI haplotype identical to those in our Rlc-morphotype; and the American Corbicula sp. form C shows the COI haplotype identical to those in our R-morphotype (Lee et al. 2005)

Morphology of Corbicula sp. from Myanmar (River Koklu, basin of Nam Pilu River). Scale bars: 2 mm

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Bespalaya, Y.V., Bolotov, I.N., Aksenova, O.V. et al. Aliens are moving to the Arctic frontiers: an integrative approach reveals selective expansion of androgenic hybrid Corbicula lineages towards the North of Russia. Biol Invasions 20, 2227–2243 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-018-1698-z

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