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The estuary perch (Macquaria colonorum) represents an important model for assessing how historical changes in coastal geomorphology and current oceanographic and estuarine conditions may have impacted connectivity in a cata- dromous fish. A fragment of the mitochondrial control region and six microsatellite DNA markers were used to clarify connectivity in 17 populations (n = 354) of estuary perch from the southeast and southern coasts of Australia. The mtDNA data showed a latitudinal disjunction in haplotype frequencies that divided populations into two groups (FST = 0.419), in a pattern suggestive of isolation by geographic distance. However, no marked structure or correlation with distance was ap- parent within each group, a result consistent with microsatellite data that showed high contemporary population connectiv- ity across large distances. This was contrary to expectations that the species would exhibit moderate to strong genetic structure consistent with a one-dimensional stepping stone pattern. Coalescent phylogeographic and population genetic analyses provided support for a historical divergence probably due to the emergence of the Bassian Isthmus in southern Australia. Current connectivity appears to be maintained by both large- and fine-scale oceanographic currents and proc- esses, highlighting the important role of the marine environment for an estuarine resident species.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Biological Sciences
Research Group:	Genetics
Research Field:	Genetics not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences
UTAS Author:	Burridge, CP (Associate Professor Christopher Burridge)
ID Code:	67458
Year Published:	2011
Web of Science® Times Cited:	22
Deposited By:	Zoology
Deposited On:	2011-03-03
Last Modified:	2017-10-31
Downloads:	2 View Download Statistics