Geographic origin and timing of colonization of the Pacific Coast of North America by the rocky shore gastropod Littorina sitkana.

ABSTRACT: The demographic history of a species can have a lasting impact on its contemporary population genetic structure. Northeastern Pacific (NEP) populations of the rocky shore gastropod Littorina sitkana have very little mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence diversity and show no significant population structure despite lacking dispersive planktonic larvae. A contrasting pattern of high mtDNA diversity in the northwestern Pacific (NWP) suggests that L. sitkana may have recently colonized the NEP from the NWP via stepping-stone colonization through the Aleutian-Commander Archipelago (ACA) following the end of the last glacial 20,000 years ago. Here, we use multi-locus sequence data to test that hypothesis using a combination of descriptive statistics and population divergence modeling

SUBMITTER: Marko PB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6836758 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature