To all the gar I loved before: range-wide population genetic structure in Alligator gar

Mitochondrial sequence data reveal population structure within Pustulosa pustulosa

“…For example, Spotted Bass showed large genetic divergence between river basins ( Lutz-Carrillo et al, 2018 ), and mussel and fish community composition were also found to differ significantly between river basins of Texas ( Dascher et al, 2018 ). Yet, more studies of population subdivision among North American freshwater mussels and other aquatic species with distributions that span multiple basins that drain into the Gulf of Mexico ( e.g ., Bohn et al, 2023 ) are still critically needed, which we begin to address in this study.…”

“…Most studies provide valuable phylogeographic treatments of related aquatic species or species delimitation within closely related groups ( e.g ., Black Bass, see Kim, Bauer & Near, 2022 ). Yet, one recent study on Alligator gar ( Atractosteus spatula ), which included samples from Texas, the mid and lower Mississippi basin, and Florida, used both microsatellites and mitochondrial control region haplotypes to infer the population genetics of this species ( Bohn et al, 2023 ). Based on control region haplotypes, they found higher differentiation among populations in Texas (average Φ ST = 0.20, not including the Red River) than among populations within the Mississippi basin (average Φ ST = 0.17; including the Red River), and higher differentiation between Texas populations and those within the Mississippi basin (average Φ ST = 0.28) (see Bohn et al (2023) , Table S4 ).…”