Genetic differentiation of freshwater pond copepods at arctic sites

Abstract

Freshwater pond copepod species at a low-arctic site show distributional and life history differences which may reflect different dispersal efficiencies. In order to ascertain levels of gene flow among populations, cellulose acetate gel electrophoresis was used to examine allozyme variation in Heterocope septentrionalis, Hesperodiaptomus victoriaensis and Leptodiaptomus tyrrelli near Churchill, Canada. Differentiation of gene frequencies among populations of these species, plus Hesperodiaptomus eiseni and Hesperodiaptomus arcticus at other sites along Hudson Bay was moderate. The variation in gene frequencies was less than that of other passively dispersing organisms from the same habitats, and only slightly greater than that reported for an intertidal copepod with pelagic larvae. The mean number of dispersers exchanged among populations per generation, estimated from Wright’s island model, averages 4.1 for the three species. Dispersal efficiency, calculated using population size estimates, revealed differences among the three species. However, these differences were not consistent with that expected from their distributional patterns. This suggests that factors other than dispersal alone determine the distributions of copepod species.