Founder effects drive the genetic structure of passively dispersed aquatic invertebrates

Montero-Pau, Javier; Gomez, Africa; Serra, Manuel

Abstract

Populations of passively dispersed organisms in continental aquatic habitats typically show high levels of neutral genetic differentiation despite their high dispersal capabilities. Several evolutionary factors, including founder events, local adaptation, and life cycle features such as high population growth rates and the presence of propagule banks, have been proposed to be responsible for this paradox. Here, we have modeled the colonization process to assess the impact of migration rate, population growth rate, population size, local adaptation and life-cycle features on the population genetic structure in these organisms. Our simulations show that the strongest effect on population structure are persistent founder effects, resulting from the interaction of a few population founders, high population growth rates, large population sizes and the presence of diapausing egg banks. In contrast, the role of local adaptation, genetic hitchhiking and migration is limited to small populations in these organisms. Our results indicate that local adaptation could have different impact on genetic structure in different groups of zooplankters.

Citation

Montero-Pau, J., Gomez, A., & Serra, M. (2018). Founder effects drive the genetic structure of passively dispersed aquatic invertebrates. PeerJ, 6(12), Article e6094. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6094

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 10, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Dec 11, 2018
• Publication Date: Dec 11, 2018
• Deposit Date: Nov 13, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 13, 2018
• Electronic ISSN: 2167-8359
• Publisher: PeerJ
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 12
• Article Number: e6094
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6094
• Keywords: Migration; Local adaptation; Genetic differentiation; Rotifera; Zooplankton; Cladocera
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1150735
• Publisher URL: https://peerj.com/articles/6094/