Postglacial recolonizations, watershed crossings and human translocations shape the distribution of chub lineages around the Swiss Alps.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Distributions of European fish species were shaped by glaciations and the geological history of river networks until human activities partially abrogated the restrictions of biogeographical regions. The nearby origins of the Rhine, Rhone, Danube and Po rivers in the Swiss Alps allow the examination of historical and human-influenced patterns in fish genetic structure over a small geographic scale. We investigated these patterns in the widespread European chub (Squalius cephalus) from the Rhone, Rhine and Danube catchments and its proposed southern sister species Italian chub (Squalius squalus) from the Po catchment.

Results

A phylogenetic tree constructed from mitochondrial Cytochrome b and COI sequences was consistent with earlier work in that it showed a separat

SUBMITTER: Gouskov A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5017123 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature