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Mitochondrial DNA and microsatellites reveal significant divergence in the beachflea Orchestia montagui (Talitridae: Amphipoda)

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Abstract

Talitrids are semiterrestrial crustacean amphipods inhabiting sandy and rocky beaches; they generally show limited active dispersal over long distances. In this study we assessed levels of population genetic structure and variability in the talitrid amphipod Orchestia montagui, a species strictly associated to stranded decaying heaps of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica. The study is based on six populations (153 individuals) and covers five basins of the Mediterranean Sea (Tyrrhenian, Ionian, Adriatic, Western and Eastern basins). Samples were screened for polymorphisms at a fragment of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) coding for the cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene (COI; 571 base pairs) and at eight microsatellite loci. MtDNA revealed a relatively homogeneous haplogroup, which clustered together the populations from the Western, Tyrrhenian and Eastern basins, but not the populations from the Adriatic and Ionian ones; microsatellites detected two clusters, one including the Adriatic and Ionian populations, the second grouping all the others. We found a weak geographic pattern in the genetic structuring of the species, with a lack of isolation by distance at either class of markers. Results are discussed in terms of probability of passive dispersal over long distances through heaps of seagrass.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financed by a financial grant from the Research Committee of the University of Malta, to which the authors are indebted. Four anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for useful criticisms on a first version of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Evolutionary Biology/Systematic Zoology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, 14476, Potsdam, Germany

    Laura Pavesi, Ralph Tiedemann & Valerio Ketmaier

  2. IOI-MOC, University of Malta, MSD 2080, Msida, Malta, Italy

    Alan Deidun

  3. Department of Biology and Biotechnology “Charles Darwin”, University of Rome “Sapienza”, Viale dell’ Università 32, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Elvira De Matthaeis & Valerio Ketmaier

Authors
  1. Laura Pavesi
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  2. Alan Deidun
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  3. Elvira De Matthaeis
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  4. Ralph Tiedemann
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  5. Valerio Ketmaier
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Correspondence to Laura Pavesi.

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Pavesi, L., Deidun, A., De Matthaeis, E. et al. Mitochondrial DNA and microsatellites reveal significant divergence in the beachflea Orchestia montagui (Talitridae: Amphipoda). Aquat Sci 74, 587–596 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-012-0250-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-012-0250-y

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