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Postglacial range expansion from northern refugia by the wood frog, Rana sylvatica
Author(s) -
LEEYAW JULIE A.,
IRWIN JASON T.,
GREEN DAVID M.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2007.03611.x
Subject(s) - biology , phylogeography , ecology , range (aeronautics) , intraspecific competition , lineage (genetic) , genetic diversity , demographic history , evolutionary biology , genetic variation , phylogenetic tree , population , biochemistry , materials science , demography , sociology , gene , composite material
Although the range dynamics of North American amphibians during the last glacial cycle are increasingly better understood, the recolonization history of the most northern regions and the impact of southern refugia on patterns of intraspecific genetic diversity and phenotypic variation in these regions are not well reconstructed. Here we present the phylogeographic history of a widespread and primarily northern frog, Rana sylvatica . We surveyed 551 individuals from 116 localities across the species’ range for a 650‐bp region of the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 and tRNA TRP mitochondrial genes. Our phylogenetic analyses revealed two distinct clades corresponding to eastern and western populations, as well as a Maritime subclade within the eastern lineage. Patterns of genetic diversity support multiple refugia. However, high‐latitude refugia in the Appalachian highlands and modern‐day Wisconsin appear to have had the biggest impact on northern populations. Clustering analyses based on morphology further support a distinction between eastern and western wood frogs and suggest that postglacial migration has played an important role in generating broad‐scale patterns of phenotypic variation in this species.