Invertebrate Eggs Can Fly: Evidence of Waterfowl-Mediated Gene Flow in Aquatic Invertebrates

Waterfowl often have been assumed to disperse fresh- water aquatic organisms between isolated wetlands, but no one has analyzed the impact of this transport on the population structure of aquatic organisms. For three cladocerans (Daphnia ambigua, Daphnia laevis, and Sida crystallina) and one bryozoa...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Figuerola, Jordi, Green, Andy J., Michot, Thomas C.
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2005
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/40921
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/40921
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:dispersal in fragmented habitats
Gene flow
habitat colonization
passive dispersal
phylogeography.
Descrição
Resumo:Waterfowl often have been assumed to disperse fresh- water aquatic organisms between isolated wetlands, but no one has analyzed the impact of this transport on the population structure of aquatic organisms. For three cladocerans (Daphnia ambigua, Daphnia laevis, and Sida crystallina) and one bryozoan (Cristatella mucedo), we estimated the genetic distances between populations across North America using sequences of several mitochondrial DNA genes and genotypic frequencies at allozyme and microsatellite loci. Waterfowl movements across North America (estimated from band recovery data) explained a significant proportion of the gene flow occurring between populations across the continent for three of the four species, even after controlling for geographic distances between localities. The fourth species, S. crystallina, has propagules less likely to survive desiccation or ingestion by birds. Differences in the capacity to exploit bird-mediated transport are likely to have important consequences for the ecology of aquatic communities and the spread of invasive species.