Phylogeography of an intertidal direct-developing gastropod Batillaria cumingi around the Japanese Islands

Abstract

The phylogeography of the direct-developing intertidal gastropod Batillaria cumingi was examined by comparing the nucleotide sequences of part of the mitochondrial gene for cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) from 507 individuals, obtained from 24 sites that cover the distribution area of this species along the Japanese coasts, and from 2 sites on the Korean Peninsula. The individuals could be divided into 2 groups. Individuals in the first group mainly inhabit coasts along the Kuroshio Current, as well as Ariake Bay in western Kyushu, while the second group inhabits coasts along the Tsushima Current and its branches. Individuals in the 2 groups coexisted at only 3 sites, which correspond to the boundaries between the distributions of the 2 groups. The level of the genetic structure of B. cumingi is higher than those of the lecithotrophic gastropod species Turbo (Batillus) cornutus and the planktotrophic congeneric species B. multiformis.KEY WORDS: Phylogeography · Direct development · Batillaria cumingi · Mitochondrial DNA · Japanese Islands Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog Ser 276: [161][162][163][164][165][166][167][168][169][170][171][172] 2004 Sawada & Handa 1998). These complicated current systems around the Japanese Islands are likely to have influenced the distribution and geographic structure of marine organisms, in particular species with low dispersal ability.Previous studies of a subtidal gastropod with a short planktonic stage, the Japanese turban shell Turbo (Batillus) cornutus, revealed a clear genetic structure that corresponded to the routes of the warm currents along the Japanese coastline (Kojima et al. 1997(Kojima et al. , 2000. The structure was attributed to environmental changes around Japan during the Quaternary period. The populations of the Japanese turban shell consist of 2 genetically distinct groups, one of which is distributed along the Kuroshio Current and one along the Tsushima Current, while no genetic structure is apparent within each group. If the low dispersal ability of Japanese turban shells is important for the formation and retention of a genetic structure, a clearer structure might be expected for a direct-developing species, and analysis of the genetic structure of such a species might be expected to provide further detailed paleoceanographic information (Kyle & Boulding 2000, Collin 2001, Hellberg et al. 2001.Intertidal gastropods of the genus Batillaria are dominant occupants of the muddy tidelands along the Japanese coasts. While 2 planktotrophic species, B. multiformis (Furota et al. 2002) and B. zonalis (S. Kamimura pers. comm.), are now threatened with extinction as a result of the recent exploitation of the Japanese coastline, comparable population declines of the direct-developing B. cumingi (Adachi & Wada 1999) have not yet been observed (Kurozumi 1995, Wada et al. 1996, Furota et al. 2002. While planktonic larvae may be unable to drift to suitable habitats, which have been isolated from ...

Phylogeography of the bivalve Tegillarca granosa in coastal China: implications for management and conservation

“…COI: cytochrome c oxidase subunit I; ITS: internal transcribed spacer; -E and -S: putative ancestral East and South China sea lineages, respectively (Meyers & Hinnov 2010). Comparison of phylogeographic structures patterns among co-distributed species can provide insights into the common historical and/or contemporary oceanographic factors shaping the genetic structures on a regional scale (Kojima et al 2004). In the northwestern Pacific region, deep intraspecific genetic divergences uniformly displayed in these organisms suggest a close relationship between genetic patterns and the isolation of 2 marginal seas during Plio-Pleistocene climate oscillations.…”

Introduced cryptic species of parasites exhibit different invasion pathways

“…This snail now occurs in five disjunct populations from Boundary Bay in British Columbia south to Elkhorn Slough, Monterey, CA (17). In its native range, B. attramentaria is geographically genetically structured (18). This local genetic differentiation allowed us to identify the source of the introduced populations in North America.…”

Oxygen in egg masses: interactive effects of temperature, age, and egg-mass morphology on oxygen supply to embryos

“…Egg masses act to retain embryos on the benthos for part or all of development; therefore, egg masses shorten the period that larvae spend in the plankton relative to broadcast spawners, and can lead to relatively higher levels of betweenpopulation genetic variation (Kyle and Boulding, 2000;Lambert et al, 2003;Kojima et al, 2004;Levin, 2006). For individuals, benthic egg masses reduce the window of vulnerability to predation on free-living larvae in the plankton, and egg-mass gel may also provide protection from predators and parasites (Benkendorff et al, 2005), buffer embryos from adverse physical conditions (Biermann et al, 1992;Woods and DeSilets, 1997;Przeslawski et al, 2004), and alter metabolic gas levels around embryos (Cohen and Strathmann, 1996;Lee and Strathmann, 1998;Strathmann and Hess, 1999;Strathmann, 2000).…”