Phylogeography of the white-throated dipper Cinclus cinclus in Europe

Abstract

Cytochrome b gene sequence variation (902 bp) was used to investigate phylogenetic relationships and genetic differentiation among the four subspecies of European white-throated dipper Cinclus cinclus (Aves; Cinclidae). Six cytochrome b haplotypes were revealed, the most common one (H 13-4) was shared by all seven populations studied. Central European C. c. aquaticus was genetically more diverse than the other subspecies (although not significantly so, due to small sample sizes), whereas our sample of the nominate subspecies from the French Pyrenees showed no haplotype variation. Pairwise comparisons of the four subspecies showed significant genetic differentiation between the taxa except for a lack of differentiation of C. c. hibernicus versus C. c. aquaticus and C. c. cinclus. The genetic structure and the phylogeographic pattern were not related to the geographic distribution of the four subspecies thus disputing the validity of the current infraspecific taxonomy of C. cinclus at least in Europe.

Evidence of a highly complex phylogeographic structure on a specialist river bird species, the dipper (Cinclus cinclus)

“…Our results support some of the previous findings on dipper phylogeography (Lauga et al, 2005), i.e. a weak genetic differentiation between West European populations and the existence of geographically widespread haplotypes among these populations.…”

“…All these characteristics make this bird a particularly interesting model for a phylogeogaphic study. A first study conducted by Lauga et al (2005) on this species concluded to a lack of a phylogeographic pattern, highlighting the need to reconsider the intraspecific taxonomy of such a species.…”

The White‐throated DipperCinclus cinclussubspecies in Spain

“…On the other hand, Lauga et al (2005) pointed out the need to reconsider the intraspecific taxonomy of the species and Hourlay et al (2008) demonstrated the lack of concordance between the morphological races described by Cramp (1988) and the genetic lineages defined in accordance with his results. Both studies clearly questioned the validity of the accepted subspecies of White-throated Dipper, as also proposed by Ormerod & Tyler (2005).…”

“…Numbers of White-throated Dipper subspecies vary between authors between 12 (Vaurie 1959, Ormerod & Tyler 2005) and 13 (Brewer & MacKay 2001). However, the need to revise and update this information has been highlighted by Ormerod & Tyler (2005), since genetic analyses have shown that there is no relation between the geographical distribution, genetic structure and phylogeographic pattern of the subspecies described (Lauga et al 2005). Therefore, in this paper we will refer to types rather than subspecies of White-throated Dippers.…”

Development of microsatellite loci in the European Dipper, Cinclus cinclus

“…Its populations are distributed over Europe, Asia and a small strip of Northern Africa and several subspecies have been described based on morphology (Tyler and Ormerod 1994). The subspecies status of Central Europe's Cinclus cinclus aquaticus has been confirmed recently using cytochrome b sequence variation (Lauga et al 2005).…”