Environmental Correlates to Genetic Diversity and Structure in Invasive Apple Snail (Pomacea canaliculata) Populations in China

Abstract

Invasive species are one of the most serious threats to biodiversity. Pomacea canaliculata is considered one of the world’s 100 worst invasive species. Major determinants of invasive species distribution are their environmental tolerances, and an understanding of correlations between local environmental variables (e.g., pH, concentration of dissolved oxygen) and genetic diversity is necessary to better prevent and manage the spread of invasive species. However, while such studies have demonstrated associations between the distribution and density of P. canaliculata and water quality correlates, the principal mechanisms relating genetic and these environmental correlates have not been fully articulated. Here, the correlation between physicochemical parameters and genetics of P. canaliculata were analyzed. The results showed that P. canaliculata among the six collection locations had robust genetic diversity, significant genetic differentiation, limited gene flow, and stable population dynamics. RDA analysis showed that genetic variation in P. canaliculata was significantly correlated with concentration of dissolved oxygen and pH. These results will provide a basis for effectively preventing and managing the spread of invasive species and identifying which habitats may be more at risk of invasion.

The unseen invaders: tracking phylogeographic dynamics and genetic diversity of crypticPomacea canaliculata and P. maculata(Golden Apple Snails) across Taiwan

“…This can then lead to false biodiversity information, potentially obstructing effective invasion management (Cowie et al, 2006). Molecular method implementation has recently been found to be the best option for distinguishing P. canaliculata and P. maculata (Matsukura & Wada, 2017;Banerjee et al, 2022), with population genetics analysis recently conducted to comprehend the invasive origin and distribution of P. canaliculata and P. maculata across Asia (Hayes et al, 2008;Yang et al, 2018;Dumidae et al, 2021;Yang et al, 2022;Zhao et al, 2022;Liu et al, 2023) Taiwan encompasses a high percentage of the world's biodiversity compared to its landmass and houses an extraordinary array of fauna that comprises evolutionary lineages from both Palearctic and Indomalaya biogeographic realms (He et al, 2018;Päckert et al, 2009).…”

“…Traditional methods using morphological observation (outer shell, internal tissue, and egg morphology) have failed to distinguish them properly because of their overlapping characteristics, thereby obscuring their actual distribution (Rama Rao et al, 2018; Banerjee et al, 2022). Molecular method implementation has recently been found to be the best option for distinguishing P. canaliculata and P. maculata (Matsukura & Wada, 2017; Banerjee et al, 2022), with population genetics analysis recently conducted to comprehend the invasive origin and distribution of P. canaliculata and P. maculata across Asia (Hayes et al, 2008; Yang et al, 2018; Dumidae et al, 2021; Yang et al, 2022; Zhao et al, 2022; Liu et al, 2023). Nevertheless, most analyses have not included samples from Taiwan, with the exception of a few sequences reported in Hayes et al (2008).…”

The unseen invaders: Tracking phylogeographic dynamics and genetic diversity of cryptic Pomacea canaliculata and P. maculata (Golden apple snails) across Taiwan

“…Molecular method implementation has recently been found to be the best option for distinguishing P. canaliculata and P. maculata (Banerjee et al, 2022;Matsukura & Wada, 2017), with population genetics analysis recently conducted to comprehend the invasive origin and distribution of P. canaliculata and P. maculata across Asia (Dumidae et al, 2021;Hayes et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2023;Yang et al, 2018Yang et al, , 2022Zhao et al, 2022).…”

“…canaliculata and P . maculata across Asia (Dumidae et al., 2021; Hayes et al., 2008; Liu et al., 2023; Yang et al., 2018, 2022; Zhao et al., 2022).…”