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Estimating divergence time for two evolutionarily significant units of a protected fish species

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Abstract

The evolutionarily significant unit concept provides a powerful tool for conserving biodiversity below the species level, but temporal criteria are often used explicitly or implicitly in the operational definitions of evolutionarily significant units (ESUs). Such temporal considerations have important implications for recently diverged taxa, as is the case with the White sands pupfish (Cyprinodon tularosa). This species consists of two native populations previously designated as the Malpais Spring and Salt Creek ESUs based on allele frequency differences at nuclear markers and their ecologically divergent habitats; despite a lack of reciprocal monophyly. Isolation of these two ESUs presumably occurred during the mid-Holocene, but an alternative hypothesis is that the populations were isolated due to changes in surface hydrology associated with overgrazing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We assayed 13 microsatellite loci and applied an Approximate Bayesian Computation analysis to estimate time of divergence between the two populations. Our reference table consisted of 1,000,000 simulated data sets, and we used three different models, each having different combinations of summary statistics. Estimates of median divergence time varied from approximately 6,500–11,000 generations (3,250–11,000 years). These findings support the hypothesis that Malpais Spring and Salt Creek having been isolated for a least a few millennia, and together with previously documented adaptive divergence, argues for continued management as separate conservation units. We consider the temporal constraints for defining evolutionary significance as it relates to recently diverged populations occupying ecologically divergent habitats.

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Acknowledgments

This work was inspired by John Pittenger’s observations of possible historic hydrological connections between Malpais Spring and Salt Creek. Thanks to Carlos Garza for recommending DIYABC as an appropriate analysis tool. We thank David Layfield for his assistance with DNA extraction and PCR amplification. Thanks also to Justin Fisher for providing the map figure and to Tim King, Tony Echelle and two anonymous reviewers whose constructive comments improved this paper. The authors would also like to thank Robert Myers (Environmental Stewardship, Environmental Division in the Directorate of Public Works, WSMR) for arrangement of range visitation. Pupfish were collected with the assistance of Janice Terfehr on White Sands Missile Range under New Mexico State collecting permit 2887. This research was funded by DOD Legacy Resource Program Grant no. DACA87-00-H-0014 administered by H. Reiser (CES/CEV, Holloman AFB) and North Dakota EPA-STAR EPSCoR Grant to CAS. The data presented in this paper were approved for public release by White Sands Missile Range; distribution unlimited. OPSEC review completed on 31 March 2009.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, North Dakota State University, 218 Stevens Hall, P.O. Box 6050, Fargo, ND, 58108-6050, USA

    Craig A. Stockwell

  2. Biology Department, Science I, SUNY College at Oneonta, Oneonta, NY, 13820, USA

    Jeffrey S. Heilveil

  3. Beaufort Laboratory NOAA: Southeast Fisheries Science Center, 101 Pivers Island Road, Beaufort, NC, 28516-9722, USA

    Kevin Purcell

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  1. Craig A. Stockwell
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Correspondence to Craig A. Stockwell.

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Stockwell, C.A., Heilveil, J.S. & Purcell, K. Estimating divergence time for two evolutionarily significant units of a protected fish species. Conserv Genet 14, 215–222 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-013-0447-1

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