Bottlenecks drive temporal and spatial genetic changes in alpine caddisfly metapopulations.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Extinction and re-colonisation of local populations is common in ephemeral habitats such as temporary streams. In most cases, such population turnover leads to reduced genetic diversity within populations and increased genetic differentiation among populations due to stochastic founder events, genetic drift, and bottlenecks associated with re-colonisation. Here, we examined the spatio-temporal genetic structure of 8 alpine caddisfly populations inhabiting permanent and temporary streams from four valleys in two regions of the Swiss Alps in years before and after a major stream drying event, the European heat wave in summer 2003.

Results

We found that population turnover after 2003 led to a loss of allelic richness and gene diversity but not to significant changes

SUBMITTER: Shama LN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3188517 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature