Patterns of Molecular Diversity in Naturally Occurring and Refugial Populations of the Least Chub
Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
Taylor & Francis
The least chub Iotichthys phlegethontis is a small, rare cyprinid fish endemic to the Bonneville basin, Utah. Although it was once widely distributed within the basin, naturally occurring populations are now known to exist only in four isolated geographical regions. We used nuclear (amplified fragment length polymorphism) and mitochondrial genetic markers to describe the patterns of genetic divergence and diversity within and among populations from these regions and to assess genetic diversity in two refugial populations. We found that a large proportion of the diversity in this species was attributable to population structuring (FST = 0.52). Given that a high proportion of the genetic variation is accounted for by population differentiation and that three of the existing populations have been discovered in the last 10 years, we suggest that surveys to discover additional populations be a high management priority. We also recommend that existing populations be studied for evidence of adaptive divergence. The refugial populations that we studied closely resembled their source populations with respect to both genetic divergence and diversity, indicating that the current policy of founding these populations with large numbers of fish is effective.
Mock KE, Miller MP (2005) Patterns of molecular diversity in naturally occurring and refugial populations of the least chub. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 134, 267-278.