Population and subspecies differentiation in a high latitude breeding wader, the Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula

• Published in: Ardea
• Main Authors: Thiess, Leon, Tomkovich, Pavel, dos Remedios, Natalie, Lislevand, Terje, Pinchuk, Pavel, Wallander, Johan, Dänhardt, Juliana, Þórisson, Bödvar, Blomqvist, Donald, Küpper, Clemens
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nederlandse Ornithologische Unie 2018
• Subjects: Evolutionary Biology; subspecies delineation; population differentiation; microsatellites; Charadrius; Arctic; Canada; Greenland; Charadrius hiaticula; Common Ringed Plover; High Latitude Breeding; Iceland; Ringed Plover
• Online Access: https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/475cf484-7c67-4c17-94f3-871467f4ffe0; https://doi.org/10.5253/arde.v106i2.a8

Exploring the patterns of genetic structure in the context of geographical andphenotypic variation is important to understand the evolutionary processesinvolved in speciation. We investigated population and subspecies differentiationin the Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula, a high latitude wader thatbreeds in arctic and temperate zones from northeast Canada across Eurasia tothe Russian Far East. Three subspecies, hiaticula, tundrae and psammo -dromus, are currently widely recognised, whereas a fourth subspecies, kolymensis,has been proposed based on geographic isolation and phenotypicdifferences. We genotyped 173 samples from eleven Common Ringed Ploverbreeding sites, representing all four putative subspecies, at eight polymorphicmicrosatellite loci to examine the patterns of population and subspecies differentiation.Bayesian clustering identified three genetic clusters among samples,corresponding to the breeding sites of the three currently recognised sub -species. The existence of the subspecies kolymensis was not supported. Wealso detected the presence of a previously unknown hybridisation zoneextending from Northern Scandinavia to Belarus. Differentiation of the sub -species tundrae and hiaticula most likely occurred in allopatry on the Eurasiancontinent during past glaciation events, followed by population expansionleading to colonisation of Iceland and Greenland. The lack of genetic differentiationwithin the tundrae subspecies is consistent with ongoing range expansionand high gene flow maintained through migratory behaviour. We discuss theimportance of historic climate changes, migratory behaviour and mating systemon shaping the observed pattern of genetic differentiation.