Genetic differentiation of Baetis alpinus Pictet (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae) in fragmented alpine streams

Abstract

The interpretation of low FST values as evidence of high levels of gene flow among habitat fragments may be confounded by population genetic structures that are indicative of historical rather than present-day levels of gene flow. We examined the genetic structure of 23 populations of Baetis alpinus (Insecta: Ephemeroptera) living in alpine streams fragmented by lakes (≈10 000 years old), reservoirs (≈100 years old), and in nonfragmented streams, to examine if lakes act as barriers to gene flow and to investigate the temporal resolution of allozyme markers. Estimates of gene flow indicated little or no genetic divergence along four nonfragmented reference streams and across two lakes and two reservoirs (FST = 0.004-0.041), but marked differentiation across four lakes (FST = 0.092-0.362) and across one reservoir that was a lake enlarged by a dam (FST = 0.075). Differentiation was unrelated to distance between fragments, but occurred only in lakes found in valleys that have been ice-free throughout the Holocene. We suggest that standing water bodies act as barriers to gene flow in B. alpinus and that low FST values observed between fragments separated by reservoirs do not indicate high levels of gene flow but rather show that genetic differentiation was not detectable within the first 100-1000 years of habitat fragmentation.