Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Genetic distinction of pallid, shovelnose, and Alabama sturgeon: emerging species and the US Endangered Species Act

  • Published:
Conservation Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The sturgeon genus Scaphirhynchus consists of threerecognized species. Pallid and shovelnose sturgeon (S. albusand S. platorynchus, respectively) are sympatric in theMissouri and lower Mississippi Rivers of the central United States. TheAlabama sturgeon (S. suttkusi) is endemic to the nearby MobileRiver drainage and is isolated geographically from the other twospecies. Pallid sturgeon and the extremely rare Alabama sturgeon arelisted as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA).In contrast, shovelnose sturgeon are relatively common and are notlisted. Despite these taxonomies and morphological evidence, somebiologists have questioned the genetic and taxonomic distinctions of thethree species, thus raising doubts concerning the validity of protectingpallid and Alabama sturgeon under the ESA. To investigate thesequestions, we compared a 436 base-pair sequence of the mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA) control region among the three species. We observed 16 mtDNAhaplotypes defined by 27 single base-pair substitutions (transitions)and one single base-pair insertion/deletion (indel) among 78individuals examined. The maximum sequence divergence among thosehaplotypes (2.06%) was less than values usually observed betweenfish species. However, Alabama sturgeon (n = 3) weredistinguished from the other two taxa (n = 75) by aunique base-pair substitution and haplotype, and pallid and shovelnosesturgeon at their northern range of natural sympatry (upper MissouriRiver) did not share any haplotypes. On the other hand, only frequencydifferences among shared haplotypes distinguished (P < 0.01)pallid and shovelnose sturgeon at their southern range of naturalsympatry (Atchafalaya River), and genetic distances between northern andsouthern localities for each species were nearly as large as thedistances between species. These latter results are consistent withseveral hypotheses, including reports (based on morphology) of putativenatural hybrids in the Atchafalaya River but not in the upper MissouriRiver. Overall, these mtDNA results indicate significant reproductiveisolation between pallid and shovelnose sturgeon in areas of naturalsympatry, and recent evolutionary divergence of Alabama sturgeon. ThesemtDNA results provide the first molecular genetic evidence fordistinguishing the three Scaphirhynchus species and, coupledwith morphological and biogeographic data, indicate that pallid andAlabama sturgeon should be evaluated as distinct species under theESA.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allard MW, Miyamoto MM, Bjorndal KA, Bolten AB, Bowen BW (1994) Support for natal homing in green turtles from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Copeia, 1994, 34–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnason U, Gullberg A, Widegren B (1993) Cetacean mitochondrial DNA control region: sequences of all extant baleen whales and two sperm whale species. Mol. Biol. Evol., 10, 960–970.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Avise JC (1994) Molecular Markers, Natural History, and Evolution. Chapman and Hall, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Avise JC, Bowen BW, Lamb T, Meylan AB, Bermingham E (1992) Mitochondrial DNA evolution at a turtle's pace: evidence for low genetic variability and reduce microevolutionary rate in the Testudines. Mol. Biol. Evol., 9, 457–473.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey RM, Cross FB (1954) River sturgeons of the American genus Scaphirhynchus: characters, distribution, and synonymy. Pap. Michigan Acad. Sci., Arts Letts., 39, 169–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bemis WE, Findeis EK (1994) Conservation biology-the sturgeons’ plight. Nature, 370, 602.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bemis WE, Findeis EK, Grande L (1997) An overview of Acipenseriformes. Environ. Biol. Fishes, 48, 25–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernatchez L, Guyomard R, Bonhomme F (1992) DNA sequence variation of the mitochondrial control region among geographically and morphologically remote European brown trout Salmo trutta populations. Mol. Ecol., 1, 161–173.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Birstein VJ (1993) Sturgeons and paddlefishes: threatened fishes in need of conservation. Cons. Biol., 7, 773–787.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birstein VJ, Bemis WE, Waldman JR (1997) The threatened status of acipenseriform species: a summary. Environ. Biol. Fishes, 48, 427–435.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen BW (1999) Preserving genes, ecosystems, or species? Healing the fractured foundations of conservation policy. Mol. Ecol., 8, S5–S10.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown JR, Beckenbach AT, Smith MJ (1993) Intraspecific DNA sequence variation of the mitochondrial control region of white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus). Mol. Biol. Evol., 10, 326–341.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown JR, Beckenbach K, Beckenbach AT, Smith MJ (1996) Length variation, heteroplasmy and sequence divergence in the mitochondrial DNA of four species of sturgeon (Acipenser). Genetics, 142, 525–535.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buroker NE, Brown JR, Gilbert TJ, O'Hara PJ, Beckenbach AT, Thomas WK, Smith MJ (1990) Length heteroplasmy of sturgeon mitochondrial DNA; an illegitimate elongation model. Genetics, 124, 157–163.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burr BM, Page LM (1986) Zoogeography of fishes of the lower Ohio-Upper Mississippi Basin. In: The Zoogeography of North American Freshwater Fishes (eds. Hocutt CH, Wiley EO), pp. 287–324. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campton DE (1987) Natural hybridization and introgression in fishes: methods of detection and genetic interpretations. In: Population Genetics and Fishery Management (eds. Ryman N, Utter F), pp. 161–192. University of Washington Press, Seattle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlson DM, Pflieger WL, Trial L, Haverland PS (1985) Distribution, biology and hybridization of Scaphirhynchus albus and S. platorynchus in the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Environ. Biol. Fishes, 14, 51–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chermock RL (1955) First record of the shovelnose sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus platorynchus, from Tombigbee River, Alabama. Copeia, 1955, 154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crass DW, Gray RH (1982) Sexual dimorphism in white sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus, from the Columbia River at Hanford, Washington. Fishery Bull., 80, 158–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cross FB, Mayden RL, Stewart JD (1986) Fishes in the western Mississippi drainage. In: The Zoogeography of North American Freshwater Fishes (eds. Hocutt CH, Wiley EO), pp. 363–412. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dryer MP, Sandvol AJ (1993) Recovery plan for the pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior. Bismarck, N.D.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson MM, Bernatchez L, Gatt M, Konkle BR, Lee S, Malott ML, McKinley RS (1993) Distribution of mitochondrial DNA variation in lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) from the Moose River Basin, Ontario, Canada. J. Fish Biol., 43 (Suppl. A), 91–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forbes SA, Richardson RE (1905) On a new shovelnose sturgeon from the Mississippi River. Bull. Illinois State Lab. Nat. Hist., 7, 37–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner BG (1984) Sturgeons as living fossils. In: Living Fossils (eds. Eldredge N, Stanley SM), pp. 148–152. Springer-Verlag, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giuffra E, Bernatchez L, Guyomard R (1994) Mitochondrial control region and protein coding genes sequence variation among phenotypic forms of brown trout Salmo trutta from northern Italy. Mol. Ecol., 3, 161–171.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hoelzel AR, Halley J, O'Brien SJ, Campagna C, Arnbom T, Leboeuf B, Ralls K, Dover GA (1993) Elephant seal genetic variation and the use of simulation models to investigate historical population bottlenecks. J. Heredity, 84, 443–449.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubbs CL (1955) Hybridization between fish species in nature. Syst. Zool., 4, 1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Innis MA, Gelfand DH, Sninsky JJ, White TJ (1990) PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications. Academic Press, San Diego.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ishida N, Oyunsuren T, Mashima S, Mukoyama H, Saitou N (1995) Mitochondrial DNA sequences of various species of the genus Equus with special reference to the phylogenetic relationship between Przewalskii's wild horse and domestic horse. J. Mol. Evol., 41, 180–188.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson PA, Hoppensteadt FC, Smith JJ, Bush GL (1996b) Conditions for sympatric speciation: A diploid model incorporating habitat fidelity and non-habitat assortative mating. Evol. Ecol., 10, 187–205.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson TC, Scholz CA, Talbot MR, Kelts K, Ricketts RD, Ngobi G, Beuning K, Ssemmanda I, McGill JW (1996a) Late Pleistocene desiccation of Lake Victoria and rapid evolution of cichlid fishes. Science, 273, 1091–1093.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kallemeyn LW (1983) Status of the pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus). Fisheries, 8(1), 3–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karl SA, Bowen BW (1999) Evolutionary significant units versus geopolitical taxonomy: molecular systematics of an endangered sea turtle (genus Chelonia). Cons. Biol., 13, 990–999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keenlyne KD (1997) Life history and status of the shovelnose sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus platorynchus. Environ. Biol. Fishes, 48, 291–298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keenlyne KD, Graham LK, Reed BC (1994a) Hybridization between the pallid and shovelnose sturgeons. Proc. South Dakota Acad. Sci., 73, 59–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keenlyne KD, Henry CJ, Tews A, Clancey P (1994b) Morphometric comparisons of upper Missouri River sturgeons. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc., 123, 779–785.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leary RF, Allendorf FW, Knudsen KL (1983) Consistently high meristic counts in natural hybrids between brook trout and bull trout. Syst. Zool., 32,369–376.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee DS, Gilbert CR, Hocutt CH, Jenkins RE, McAllister DE, Stauffer JR Jr. (1980) Atlas of North American Freshwater Fishes. North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, Raleigh, NC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lu G, Bernatchez L (1999) Correlated trophic specialization and genetic divergence in sympatric lake whitefish ecotypes (Coregonus clupeaformis): support for the ecological speciation hypothesis. Evolution, 53, 1491–1505.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lydeard C, Mayden RL (1995) A diverse and endangered aquatic ecosystem of the southeast United States. Cons. Biol., 9, 800–805.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin AP, Naylor GJP, Palumbi SR (1992) Rates of mitochondrial DNA evolution in sharks are slow compared with mammals. Nature, 357, 153–155.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martin AP, Palumbi SR (1993) Body size, metabolic rate, generation time, and the molecular clock. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 90, 4087–4091.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mayden RL (1988) Vicariance biogeography, parsimony, and evolution in North American freshwater fishes. Syst. Zool., 37, 329–355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayden RL, Kuhajda BR (1996) Systematics, taxonomy, and conservation of the endangered Alabama sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus suttkusi Williams and Clemmer (Actinopterygii, Acipenseridae). Copeia, 1996, 241–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayden RL, Kuhajda BR (1997) Threatened fishes of the world: Scaphirhynchus suttkusi Williams & Clemmer, 1991 (Acipenseridae). Environ. Biol. Fishes, 48, 418–419.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDowall RM (1999) Different kinds of diadromy: different kinds of conservation problems. ICES J. Marine Sci., 56, 410–413.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMillan WO, Palumbi SR (1997) Rapid rate of control-region evolution in Pacific butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae). J. Mol. Evol., 45, 473–484.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Metcalf AL (1966) Fishes of the Kansas River system in relation to zoogeography of the Great Plains. Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist., University of Kansas, 17, 23–189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer A (1993) Phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary processes in east African cichlid fishes. Trends Ecol. Evol., 8, 279–284.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer A, Kocher TD, Basasibwaki P, Wilson AC (1990) Monophyletic origin of Lake Victoria cichlid fishes suggested by mitochondrial DNA sequences. Nature, 347, 550–553.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer A, Morrissey JM, Schartl M (1994) Recurrent origin of a sexually selected trait in Xiphophorus fishes inferred from a molecular phylogeny. Nature, 368, 539–542.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miracle AL, Campton DE (1995) Tandem repeat sequence variation and length heteroplasmy in the mitochondrial DNA D-loop of the threatened Gulf of Mexico sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrhynchus desotoi. J. Heredity, 86, 22–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell LG, Merrill CR (1989) Affinity generation of singlestranded DNA for dideoxy sequencing following the polymerase chain reaction. Analytical Biochem., 178, 239–242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moyle PB, Cech JJ Jr. (1996) Fishes: An Introduction to Ichthyology, 3rd edn. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nei M (1987) Molecular Evolutionary Genetics. Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patterson C (1982) Morphology and interrelationships of primitive Actinopterygian fishes. Am. Zoologist, 22, 241–259.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pflieger WL (1971) A distributional study of Missouri fishes. Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist., University of Kansas, 20, 225–570.

    Google Scholar 

  • PfliegerWL, Grace TB (1987) Changes in fish fauna of theMissouri River, 1940–1983. In: Community and Evolutionary Ecology of North American Stream Fishes (ed. Matthews WHD), pp. 166–177. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phelps SR, Allendorf FW (1983) Genetic identity of pallid and shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus and S. platorynchus). Copeia, 1983, 696–700.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pigeon D, Chouinard A, Bernatchez L (1997) Multiple modes of speciation involved in the parallel evolution of sympatric morphotypes of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis, Salmonidae). Evolution, 51, 196–205.

    Google Scholar 

  • RiceWR, Salt GW(1990) The evolution of reproductive isolation as a correlated character under sympatric conditions: tall evidence. Evolution, 44, 1140–1152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roman J, Santhuff SD, Moler PE, Bowen BW (1999) Population structure and cryptic evolutionary units in the alligator snapping turtle. Cons. Biol., 13, 135–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruban GI (1992) Plasticity of development in natural and experimental populations of Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser baeri. Acta Zool. Fenn., 191, 43–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruelle R, Keenlyne KD (1993) Contaminants in Missouri River pallid sturgeon. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., 50, 898–906.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sambrook J, Fritsch EF, Maniatis T (1989) Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, 2nd edn. Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sang TK, Chang HY, Chen CT, Hui CF (1994) Population structure of the Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica. Mol. Biol. Evol., 11, 250–260.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stager JC, Reinthal PN, Livingston DA (1986) A 25,000–year history for Lake Victoria, East Africa, and some comments on its significance for the evolution of cichlid fishes. Freshwater Biol., 16, 15–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starnes WC, Etnier DA (1986) Drainage evolution and fish biogeography of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers drainage realm. In: The Zoogeography of North American Freshwater Fishes (eds. Hocutt CH, Wiley EO), pp. 325–361. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swift CC, Gilbert CR, Bortone SA, Burgess GH, Yerger RW (1986) Zoogeography of the freshwater fishes of the southeastern United States: Savannah River to Lake Pontchartrain. In: The Zoogeography of North American Freshwater Fishes (eds. Hocutt CH, Wiley EO), pp. 213–265. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swofford DL, Olsen GJ (1990) Phylogeny reconstruction. In: Molecular Systematics (eds. Moritz C, Hillis DM), pp. 411–501. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vigilant L, Stoneking M, Harpending H, Hawkes K, Wilson AC (1991) African populations and the evolution of human mitochondrial DNA. Science, 253, 1503–1508.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waldman JR (1995) Sturgeons and paddlefishes: a convergence of biology, politics, and greed. Fisheries, 20(9), 20–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waples RS (1991) Pacific salmon, Oncorhynchus spp., and the definition of "species" under the Endangered Species Act. Marine Fisheries Rev., 53(3), 11–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waples RS (1995) Evolutionary significant units and the conservation of biological diversity under the Endangered Species Act. In: Evolution and the Aquatic Ecosystem: Defining Unique Units in Population Conservation (eds. Nielsen JL, Powers DA), pp. 8–27. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Maryland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilimovsky NJ (1956) Protoscaphirhynchus squamosus, a new sturgeon from the upper Cretaceous of Montana. J. Paleontol., 30, 1205–1208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams JD, Clemmer GH (1991) Scaphirhynchus suttkusi, a new sturgeon (Pisces:Acipenseridae) from the Mobile Basin of Alabama and Mississippi. Bull. Alabama Mus. Nat. Hist., 10, 17–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaykin DV, Pudovkin AI (1993) Two programs to estimate significance of X2 values using pseudo-probability tests. J. Heredity, 84, 152.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Donald E. Campton

    Present address: US Fish & Wildlife Service, Abernathy Fish Technology Center, 1440 Abernathy Creek Road, Longview, WA, 98632, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Florida, 7922 N.W. 71st Street, Gainesville, FL, 32653-3071, USA; author for correspondence:

    Donald E. Campton

  2. Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Florida, 7922 N.W. 71st Street, Gainesville, FL, 32653-3071, USA

    Anna L. Bass, Frank A. Chapman & Brian W. Bowen

Authors
  1. Donald E. Campton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anna L. Bass
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Frank A. Chapman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Brian W. Bowen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Donald E. Campton.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Campton, D.E., Bass, A.L., Chapman, F.A. et al. Genetic distinction of pallid, shovelnose, and Alabama sturgeon: emerging species and the US Endangered Species Act. Conservation Genetics 1, 17–32 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010121417487

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010121417487

Search

Navigation