An assessment of mitochondrial variation in Arctic gadoids

Snæbjörn Pálsson, Thomas Källman, Jonas Paulsen, Einar Árnason

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Climatic changes during the quaternary history in Arctic regions have shaped the genetic variation and genealogies of Arctic species. Several studies have been conducted in recent years on genetic diversity of Arctic organisms, but marine fishes are largely underrepresented in these studies. Here, we present a study on mitochondrial variation in three Arctic gadoids: Arctic cod (Arctogadus glacialis), Greenland cod (Gadus ogac), and Polar cod (Boreogadus saida). In addition, geographic variation in Polar cod is presented. The sequence variation at the mtDNA presents similar patterns as observed for other related marine fishes. Variation in these three species reflects rather different historic processes, due to colonization and climatic changes than differences in life histories. In Polar cod, a deeper genealogy is observed and variation is dependent on both latitude and longitude. The deep genealogy indicates either admixture of separate lineages or a population, which has been stable in size during alternating cold and warm periods of the pleistocene.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)471-479
Number of pages9
JournalPolar Biology
Volume32
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2009

Bibliographical note

Funding Information: Acknowledgments We want to thank several people who kindly provided samples: Jónbjörn Pálsson, Marine Research Institute, Iceland; Mike Canino, RACE Division, Seattle; Per KannerworV, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources; Svein-Erik Fevolden and Jörgen Schau Christiansen, University of Tromsö; TUNU-I expedition; and Takashi Yanagimoto, Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute. The work was supported by a grant from the Icelandic Research Fund.

Other keywords

  • Arctic
  • Climate
  • Gadoids
  • Genealogy
  • Geographic barriers
  • MtDNA
  • Phylogeography
  • Variation

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