engleski

Past, present and future in extreme habitats: evolutionary history, genetic structure and perspective of Aphanius fasciatus along adriatic coast

Differences in the levels of genetic substructuring in marine, anadromous and freshwater fishes have already been documented. However, data on the genetic structure and evolutionary history of fish species inhabiting specific habitats, such as hypersaline water bodies are still scarce. Suitable model species for investigating evolution in such waters is the South European Toothcarp, Aphanius fasciatus (Valenciennes, 1821), a cyprinodont that is distributed over the central and eastern coastal zone of the Mediterranean. In order to enable better understanding of the evolutionary course in such extreme habitats, the phylogenetic relationships and genetic structure of several A. fasciatus populations inhabiting hypersaline waters along the eastern Adriatic coast have been analyzed. Phylogenetic trees constructed using maximum parsimony and Bayesian methods, as well as median-joining and statistical parsimony networks based on two genetic markers with different mutation rates revealed more complicated intraspecific structure than expected, whereas measures of genetic polymorphism detected different levels of genetic diversity in various populations. Insight into the past history, together with better understanding of the present status of A. fasciatus enabled more precise prediction of its future alterations, which was conducted by population viability analyses.

south european toothcarp; genetic polymorphism; evolution

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