The cockle Cerastoderma edule at Northeast Atlantic shores: genetic signatures of glacial refugia

• Published in: Marine biology Vol. 159; no. 1; pp. 221 - 230
• Main Authors: Krakau, Manuela, Jacobsen, Sabine, Jensen, Kurt Thomas, Reise, Karsten
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 2012; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Biological research; Biology, Experimental; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cardium; Cerastoderma; Cerastoderma edule; Clams; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetic aspects; Haplotypes; Life Sciences; Marine; Marine & Freshwater Sciences; Marine biology; Microbiology; Mitochondrial DNA; Mollusks; Oceanography; Original Paper; Population genetics; Sea water ecosystems; Synecology; Zoology; Atlantic Ocean; Northeast Atlantic; Denmark; Germany; ANE, Baltic Sea; ANE, Scandinavia; ANE, British Isles; PN, Arctic; Northern Group; Glacial Refugium; Periglacial Zone; Dominant Haplotype; Macoma Balthica; Genetics; Invertebrata; Mollusca; Bivalvia; Glaciation refuge; Cerastoderma edule
• ISSN: 0025-3162; 1432-1793
• DOI: 10.1007/s00227-011-1802-8

The cockle Cerastoderma ( Cardium ) edule (L.) ranges from NW Africa to northern Scandinavia. Abundance in shallow coastal sediment is often high, and it attracts commercial harvest. In this study, a complex genetic pattern has been revealed by mitochondrial DNA in 383 individuals from 19 sampling sites. Parsimony network analysis of 79 haplotypes identified two dominant central haplotypes separated by low divergence. One is characteristic for a homogenous southwestern group of populations from Africa to the British Isles. The other is characteristic for a heterogeneous northern group with a deviant Arctic population. At the entrance of the Baltic Sea, a mixture zone of the dominant haplotypes was found. The estimated population expansion time for the northern haplotype group predates that of the southwestern one, suggesting northern glacial refugia and a subsequent southern expansion of C . edule populations.