Postglacial climate changes and rise of three ecotypes of harbour porpoises, Phocoena phocoena, in western Palearctic waters.

• Published in: Molecular Ecology
• Main Authors: Fontaine, Michaël C, Roland, Kathleen, Calves, Isabelle, Austerlitz, Frederic, Palstra, Friso P, Tolley, Krystal A, Ryan, Sean, Ferreira, Marisa, Jauniaux, Thierry, Llavona, Angela, Oztürk, Bayram, Oztürk, Ayaka A, Ridoux, Vincent, Rogan, Emer, Sequeira, Marina, Siebert, Ursula, Vikingsson, Gísli A, Borrell, Asunción, Michaux, Johan R, Aguilar, Alex
• Other Authors: Department of Biological Sciences Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Indiana (UND), Ecologie Systématique et Evolution (ESE), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-AgroParisTech-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), AgroParisTech, Eco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie (EAE), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations (UMR CBGP), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro), Biologie environnementale et évolutive (URBE), Département de Biologie, Université de Namur Namur (UNamur)-Université de Namur Namur (UNamur), Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR) (LEMAR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Applied Biodiversity Research South African National Biodiversity institute, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology - CBMA (Braga, Portugal), Universidade do Minho = University of Minho Braga, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire Liège, CEMMA, Coordinadora para o Estudio dos Mamiferos Marinos, Faculty of fisheries, Istanbul University, TUDAV, Turkish Marine Research Foundation, LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Observatoire pour la Conservation de la Mégafaune Marine (PELAGIS), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences Cork (BEES), University College Cork (UCC), Instituto de Conservaçao da natureza e das Florestas, Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW), University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Foundation (TiHo), Marine Research Institute, Department of Animal Biology and IRBio, University of Barcelona, Belgian Science Policy SSTC EV/12/46A, Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research; AGAPE Marie-Curie Fellowship Program
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: upwelling; speciation; allopatric divergence; climate changes; Cetacea; ACL; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Harbour porpoise; Phocoena phocoena
• Online Access: https://hal.univ-brest.fr/hal-01019023; https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.12817

International audience Despite no obvious barriers to gene flow in the marine realm, environmental variation and ecological specializations can lead to genetic differentiation in highly mobile predators. Here, we investigated the genetic structure of the harbour porpoise over the entire species distribution range in western Palearctic waters. Combined analyses of 10 microsatellite loci and a 5085 base-pair portion of the mitochondrial genome revealed the existence of three ecotypes, equally divergent at the mitochondrial genome, distributed in the Black Sea (BS), the European continental shelf waters, and a previously overlooked ecotype in the upwelling zones of Iberia and Mauritania. Historical demographic inferences using approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) suggest that these ecotypes diverged during the last glacial maximum (c. 23-19 kilo-years ago, kyrbp). ABC supports the hypothesis that the BS and upwelling ecotypes share a more recent common ancestor (c. 14 kyrbp) than either does with the European continental shelf ecotype (c. 28 kyrbp), suggesting they probably descended from the extinct populations that once inhabited the Mediterranean during the glacial and post-glacial period. We showed that the two Atlantic ecotypes established a narrow admixture zone in the Bay of Biscay during the last millennium, with highly asymmetric gene flow. This study highlights the impacts that climate change may have on the distribution and speciation process in pelagic predators and shows that allopatric divergence can occur in these highly mobile species and be a source of genetic diversity.