Population structure and genetic diversity of Sinibrama macrops from Ou River and Ling River based on mtDNA D-loop region analysis, China

Abstract

In order to understand the influence of human activities such as habitat fragmentation on freshwater fish population evolution, we investigated and compared the genetic diversity and phylogeography of Sinibrama macrops populations in the Oujiang River and Ling River. Mitochondrial control region sequences (D-loop region) of 131 specimens from six populations were obtained and analyzed. The diversity of main stream in the Ou River was lower than that in Ling River. Changtan population showed the lowest diversity (H = 0.646 ± 0.077; π = 0.00060 ± 0.00820). Pairwise F_ST, gene flow (Nm), and genetic distance (Da) indicated that Longquan and Changtan significantly differentiate from other populations. Nested clade phylogeographical analysis (NCPA) showed some clades and total cladogram experienced isolation by distance. In conclusion, the populations from severely fragmented Ou River have the lower diversity and more intense differentiation than that from the mainstream of Ling River, Changtan population present the lowest diversity and were isolated by the dam construction.

Keywords:

• Habitat fragmentation
• isolation
• genetic differentiation
• Nested clade phylogeographical analysis
• freshwater fish

Acknowledgements

The authors thank William D. Templin for technical advice and discussion on previous versions of the manuscript. This study was supported by Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest, Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China (201303056), by Shanghai University Knowledge Service Platform Project (ZF1206), and by Shanghai Universities First-class Disciplines Project of Fisheries.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare and note that the sponsors of the issue had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest, Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China (201303056), by Shanghai University Knowledge Service Platform Project (ZF1206), and by Shanghai Universities First-class Disciplines Project of Fisheries.