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Range-wide fragmentation in a threatened fish associated with post-European settlement modification in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia

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Abstract

Distinguishing the relative influence of historic (i.e. natural) versus anthropogenic factors in metapopulation structure is an important but often overlooked step in management programs of threatened species. Biotas in freshwater wetlands and floodplains, such as those in the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB)—one of Australia’s most impacted ecosystems, are particularly susceptible to anthropogenic fragmentation. Here we present a comprehensive multilocus assessment of genetic variation in the threatened southern pygmy perch Nannoperca australis (578 individuals; 45 localities; microsatellite, allozyme and mitochondrial DNA datasets), an ecological specialist with low dispersal potential. We assess patterns of spatial structure and genetic diversity in populations spanning the highly fragmented MDB and test whether recent anthropogenic modification has disrupted range-wide connectivity. We detected strong and hierarchical population structure, very low genetic diversity and lack of contemporary gene flow across the MDB. In contrast, the apparent absence of pronounced or long-term phylogeographic structure suggests that observed population divergences generally do not reflect deeply historic natural fragmentation. Coalescent-based analyses supported this inference, revealing that divergence times between populations from the upper and lower MDB fall into the period of European settlement. It appears that the observed contemporary isolation of populations is partly explained by the severe modification of the MDB post-dating the onset of European settlement. Our integrated approach substantially improves the interpretation of how fragmentation impacts present-day biodiversity. It also provides novel contributions for risk-assessing management actions in the context of captive breeding and translocations of small freshwater fishes, a group of increasing global conservation concern.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the many people who helped with fieldwork, and are grateful to Minami Sasaki and Jerald Johnson for laboratory assistance. Collections were obtained under permits from various state fisheries agencies and research is under Flinders University Animal Welfare Committee approval E313. Financial support was provided by the Australian Research Council (LP100200409 to LB Beheregaray, J Harris and M Adams; and FT130101068 to LB Beheregaray) and by an AJ & IM Naylon Honours scholarship (to TL Cole).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Ecology Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA, 5042, Australia

    Theresa L. Cole, Peter R. Teske, Chris J. Brauer & Luciano B. Beheregaray

  2. Evolutionary Biology Unit, South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia

    Michael P. Hammer & Mark Adams

  3. Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, PO Box 4646, Darwin, NT, 0801, Australia

    Michael P. Hammer

  4. Institute for Applied Ecology and Collaborative Research Network for Murray–Darling Basin Futures, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Peter J. Unmack

  5. Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, 2006, South Africa

    Peter R. Teske

  6. Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia

    Mark Adams

  7. Department of Zoology, Otago University, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Theresa L. Cole

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  1. Theresa L. Cole
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Correspondence to Luciano B. Beheregaray.

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Cole, T.L., Hammer, M.P., Unmack, P.J. et al. Range-wide fragmentation in a threatened fish associated with post-European settlement modification in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia. Conserv Genet 17, 1377–1391 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-016-0868-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-016-0868-8

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