Abstract
The pattern of genetic variation in four coexisting fly species of the genus Chiastocheta was studied by allozyme electrophoresis. The fly species are confined to patches of one plant, Trollius europaeus, and thus experience very similar habitat fluctuations. Collection sites were chosen in a hierarchical fashion and F-statistics were estimated at three levels: intraregion, inter-region and total population. Population characteristic genetic parameters were compared within and among species and were related to the hierarchical level. The species were used as replicate experiments for inference of habitat history, and the hierarchical levels were used as inference for specific gene flow patterns. Genetic variability was related to relative species abundance but not to local population size. The species divided into two heterogeneity classes, C. dentifera/C. trollii, and C. inermella/C. abruptiventris, where the former pair had more genetic variation than the latter. However, among all species no differences in the average number of alleles per locus were found. The amount of variability was not related to interspecific phylogeny, and the species could thus be analysed independently for genetic structure. Species-specific genetic patterns were found, but for all species the amount of genetic differentiation was related to regional geography. For three species, differentiation within regions was often higher than at the total population level whereas the differentiation among regions was negligible. Differentiation of the fourth species, C. inermella, increased with geographical scale indicating an isolation-by-distance genetic structure. We suggest that within species the amount of genetic differentiation need not be related to intraspecific ancestry, as high differentiation was not necessarily associated with low expected geographical structure.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Archie, J W. 1985. Statistical analysis of heterozygosity data: independent sample comparisons. Evolution, 39, 623–637.
Ayala, F J, Powell, J F, Tracy, M L, Maoraoc, A, and Peréz-Salas, S. 1972. Enzyme variability in the Drosophila willistoni group. IV. Genic variation in natural populations of Drosophila willistoni. Genetics, 70, 113–139.
Black, W C, IV, and Krafsur, E S. 1985. Electrophoretic analysis of genetic variability in the house fly (Musca domestica L.). Biochem Genet, 23, 193–203.
Bryant, E H, Van Dijk, H, and Van Delden, W. 1981. Genetic variability of the face fly, Musca automalis De Geer, in relation to a population bottleneck. Evolution, 35, 872–881.
Chakraborty, R, Fuerst, P A, and Nei, M. 1980. Stastistical studies on protein polymorphism in natural populations. III. Distribution of allele frequencies and the number of alleles per locus. Genetics, 94, 1039–1063.
Collin, J E. 1954. The genus Chiastocheata Pokorny (Diptera: Anthomyiidae). Proc R Ent Soc Lond B, 23, 95–102.
Descimon, H, and Napolitano, M. 1993. Enzyme polymorphism, wing pattern variability, and geographical isolation in an endangered butterfly species. Biol Conserv, 66, 117–123.
Felsenstein, J. 1985. Confidence limits on phylogenies: an approach using the bootstrap. Evolution, 39, 783–791.
Gilpin, M. 1991. The genetic effective size of a meta-population. Biol J Linn Soc, 42, 165–175.
Hanski, I. 1991. Single-species metapopulation dynamics: concepts, models and observations. Biol J Linn Soc, 42, 17–38.
Harris, H, and Hopkinson, D A. 1978. Handbook of Enzyme Electrophoresis in Human Genetics. Supplement. North-Holland Publishing Company, Amsterdam.
Johannesen, J, and Loeschcke, V. Distribution, abundance and oviposition patterns of four coexisting Chiastocheta species (Diptera: Anthomyiidae). J Anim Ecol. (in press).
Kimura, M. 1983. The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Kimura, M, and Crow, J F. 1964. The number of alleles that can be maintained in a finite population. Genetics, 49, 725–738.
Krafsur, E S. 1993. Allozyme variation in stable flies (Diptera: Muscidae). Biochem Genet, 31, 231–240.
Louis, E J, and Dempster, E R. 1987. An exact test for Hardy–Weinberg and multiple alleles. Biometrics, 43, 805–811.
Mantel, N. 1967. The detection of disease clustering and a generalised regression approach. Cancer Res, 27, 209–220.
Maruyama, T, and Kimura, M. 1980. Genetic variability and effective population size when local extinction and recolonization of subpopulations are frequent. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 77, 6710–6714.
McCauley, D E. 1989. Extinction, colonization, and population structure: a study of a milkweed beetle. Am Nat, 134, 365–376.
McCauley, D E. 1991. The effect of host plant patch size variation on the population structure of a specialist herbivore insect, Tetraopes tetraophthalmus. Evolution, 45, 1675–1684.
Michelsen, V. 1985. A revision of the Anthomyiidae (Diptera) described by J. W. Zetterstedt. Steenstrupia, 11, 37–65.
Napolitano, M, and Descimon, H. 1994. Genetic structure of French populations of the mountain butterfly Parnassius mnemosyne, L. (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). Biol J Linn Soc, 53, 325–341.
Nei, M. 1972. Genetic distance between populations. Am Nat, 106, 283–291.
Nei, M, Maruyama, T, and Chakraborty, R. 1975. The bottleneck effect and genetic variability in populations. Evolution, 29, 1–10.
Pellmyr, O. 1989. The cost of mutualism: interactions between Trollius europaeus and its pollinating parasites. Oecologia, 78, 53–59.
Pellmyr, O. 1992. The phylogeny of a mutualism: evolution and coadaptation between Trollius and its seed-parasitic pollinators. Biol J Linn Soc, 47, 337–365.
Powell, J R. 1975. Protein variation in natural populations of animals. Evol Biol, 8, 79–119.
Pulliam, R H. 1988. Sources, sinks and population regulation. Am Nat, 132, 652–661.
Reynolds, J, Weir, B S, and Cockerham, C C. 1983. Estimation of the coancestry coefficient: basis for a short-term genetic distance. Genetics, 105, 767–779.
Rice, W R. 1989. Analyzing tables of statistical tests. Evolution, 43, 223–225.
Richarson, B J, Baverstock, P R, and Adams, M. 1986. Allozyme Electrophoresis A Handbook for Animal Systematics and Population Studies. Academic Press Inc., San Diego.
Selander, R K, Smith, M H, Yang, S Y, Johnson, W E, and Gentrey, J B. 1971. Biochemical polymorphism and systematics in the genus Peromyscus. I. Variation in the old-field mouse (Peromyscus polionotus). Studies in Genetics IV. Univ. Texas Publ. no. 7103, 49–90.
Singh, R S, and Rhomberg, L R. 1987. A comprehensive study of genic variation in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. I. Estimates of gene flow from rare alleles. Genetics, 115, 313–322.
Slatkin, M. 1977. Gene flow and genetic drift in a species subject to frequent local extinctions. Theor Pop Biol, 12, 253–262.
Slatkin, M. 1985. Gene flow in natural populations. Ann Rev Ecol Syst, 16, 393–430.
Slatkin, M. 1993. Isolation by distance in equilibrium and non-equilibrium populations. Evolution, 47, 264–279.
Sokal, R R, and Rohlf, F J. 1981. Biometry, 2nd edn. W. H. Freeman and Co., New York.
Swofford, D L, and Selander, R B. 1989. BIOSYS-1: a Fortran program for the comprehensive analysis of electrophoretic data in population genetics and systematics. J Hered, 72, 281–283.
Tomiuk, J, and Loeschcke, V. 1995. Genetic identity tion genetic consequences of colony formation and combining mutation and drift. Heredity, 74, 607–615.
Wade, M J, and McCapley, D E. 1988. Extinction and recolonization: their effects on the genetic differentiation of local populations. Evolution, 42, 995–1005.
Weir, B S, and Cockerham, C C. 1984. Estimating F-statistics for the analysis of population structure. Evolution, 38, 1358–1370.
Whitlock, M C, and McCauley, D E. 1990. Some population genetic consequences of colony formation and extinction: genetic correlations within founding groups. Evolution, 44, 1717–1724.
Wright, S. 1931. Evolution in Mendelian populations. Genetics, 16, 97–159.
Wright, S. 1978. Evolution and the Genetics of Populations, vol. 4, Variability Within and Among Natural Populations. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Johannesen, J., Loeschcke, V. A hierarchical analysis of genetic structure and variability in patchily distributed coexisting Chiastocheta species (Diptera: Anthomyiidae). Heredity 76, 437–448 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1996.66
Received:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1996.66
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Neutral and quantitative genetic differentiation among Trollius europaeus populations within a fragmented landscape
Alpine Botany (2013)
-
Genetic variation and plant performance in fragmented populations of globeflowers (Trollius europaeus) within agricultural landscapes
Conservation Genetics (2012)
-
Hierarchical analysis of genetic structure in Spanish donkey breeds using microsatellite markers
Heredity (2002)
-
Hierarchical genetic structure and effective population sizes in Phalacrus substriatus
Heredity (1997)
