Biogeographical role of the Kuroshio Current in the amphibious mudskipper Periophthalmus modestus indicated by mitochondrial DNA data

Abstract

Quaternary climatic cycles have influenced marine organisms’ spatial distribution and population dynamics. This study aimed to elucidate the evolutionary influences of contemporary and glacial physical barriers on the population structure, demography and colonization history of the mudskipper (Periophthalmus modestus) based on a mitochondrial gene segment (ND5) from 131 individual fish sampled in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The current Kuroshio Current and the glacial exposure of the Taiwan Strait appeared to have restricted migration among the South China Sea, coastal East China and Japan. However, genetic homogeneity (Nm>1) also suggested contemporary larval transportation by sea circulation between the East China Sea and the South China Sea or historical dispersal along the glacial exposed shoreline among China, Japan and the Ryukyu Islands. Evolutionary signals of the strengthened East Asian Summer Monsoon in the mid-Pleistocene and regional difference in intertidal primary productions were indicated by a late-Pleistocene population expansion of P. modestus with a higher effective population size in the South China Sea than in the East China Sea. Furthermore, a potential colonization origin from the South China Sea was consistently inferred by different clues, including the populations’ coalescence times, the ancestral haplotype distribution, the number of private haplotypes and species/genetic diversity.

Genetic identification of source and likely vector of a widespread marine invader

“…The marginal seas of the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the Sea of Japan/East Sea may have served as glacial refugia, although intraspecific variation in demographic histories is common across taxa (Ni et al., ). He, Mukai, Chung, and Zhang () found the amphibious mudskipper Periophthalmus modestus colonized northward from the South China Sea through the East China Sea along the coasts of Korea and Japan. Other studies have found higher haplotypic diversity in southern South Korea and southern Japan (i.e., East China Sea) as compared to Honshu and Hokkaido populations (Ho, Kwan, Kim, & Won, ; Kim, Hoarau, & Boo, ), suggesting northward colonization.…”

“…The marginal seas of the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the Sea of Japan/East Sea may have served as glacial refugia, although intraspecific variation in demographic histories is common across taxa (Ni et al, 2014). He, Mukai, Chung, and Zhang (2015) found (Ho, Kwan, Kim, & Won, 2014;Kim, Hoarau, & Boo, 2012), suggesting northward colonization. However, although studies have found southern clade haplotypes decrease to the north (Azuma & Chiba, 2015), no studies, to our knowledge, have found as sharp a break as observed in our study of Gracilaria vermiculophylla in the NW Pacific (Figure 1, Figure S1).…”

Genetic differentiation of the soft shore barnacle Fistulobalanus albicostatus (Cirripedia: Thoracica: Balanomorpha) in the West Pacific

“…the barnacle Chthamalus moro ; Wu, Tsang, Chan, & Chu, ). These islands may have served as glacial refugia during the LGM, resulting in distinct speciation events (He, Mukai, Chu, Ma, & Zhang, ). Along the coast of mainland China, the phylogeographic patterns of the rocky shore limpets Cellana toreuma and the Siphonaria species revealed a strong biogeographic break at the mouth of Yangtze River, resulting in the separation of the northern populations of the Yellow Sea from the Southern East China Sea and South China Sea populations (Wang, Tsang, & Dong, ).…”

“…A study conducted on the mudskipper Boleophthalmus pectinirostris , for example, revealed two geographic clades: one clade is distributed along the coasts of China and Taiwan, and the other clade is in South Korea and Japan (Chen, Hong, Chen, Wang, & Zhang, ). Monsoon circulations in the East China Sea may promote gene flow between the East China Sea and South China Sea mudskipper populations (He et al., ). Along the coast of mainland China, in the region around the mouth of the Yangtze River, a division exists between the northern and southern populations of the mitten crab Eriocheir sensu stricto, and the mangrove bivalves Cyclina sinensis and Atrina pectinata (Ni, Li, Kong, & Yu, ).…”

The Identification of Source and Vector of a Prolific Marine Invader

“…The marginal seas of South China Sea, the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan/East Sea may have served as glacial refugia, though intraspecific variation in demographic histories are common across taxa (Ni et al 2014). He et al (2015) found the amphibious mudskipper Periophthalmus modestus colonized northward from the South China Sea through the East China Sea along the coasts of Korea and Japan. Other studies have found higher haplotypic diversity in southern South Korea and southern Japan (i.e., East China Sea) as compared to Honshu and Hokkaido populations (Kim et al 2012;Ho et al 2014), suggesting northward colonization.…”