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The cockle Cerastoderma edule at Northeast Atlantic shores: genetic signatures of glacial refugia

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Abstract

The cockle Cerastoderma (Cardium) edule (L.) ranges from NW Africa to northern Scandinavia. Abundance in shallow coastal sediment is often high, and it attracts commercial harvest. In this study, a complex genetic pattern has been revealed by mitochondrial DNA in 383 individuals from 19 sampling sites. Parsimony network analysis of 79 haplotypes identified two dominant central haplotypes separated by low divergence. One is characteristic for a homogenous southwestern group of populations from Africa to the British Isles. The other is characteristic for a heterogeneous northern group with a deviant Arctic population. At the entrance of the Baltic Sea, a mixture zone of the dominant haplotypes was found. The estimated population expansion time for the northern haplotype group predates that of the southwestern one, suggesting northern glacial refugia and a subsequent southern expansion of C. edule populations.

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Acknowledgments

For sampling support, we thank colleagues involved in the two European exchange projects, French National Coastal Environment Programme (PNEC) and European MarBEF Network of Excellence “Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning”. MK appreciates the cordial invitation to the laboratories of H. Cabral, S. Mortensen and J. Wilson. MK likes to thank following people for support in laboratory and field work: H. Halliger, G. Czichy, J. Kochmann, V. Liebich, J. F. Marques, B. Regenfuß and A. Schlüssel. The study was partly supported by the MarBEF Network funded by the European Community’s Sixth Framework Programme (contract no. GOCE-CT-2003-505446). We thank Mathias Wegner and the anonymous reviewers whose comments substantially improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Wadden Sea Station Sylt, Hafenstr. 43, 25992, List, Germany

    Manuela Krakau, Sabine Jacobsen & Karsten Reise

  2. Marine Ecology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Aarhus, Ole Worms Allé 1, Bld. 1135, 8000, Aarhus, Denmark

    Kurt Thomas Jensen

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  1. Manuela Krakau
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  2. Sabine Jacobsen
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  4. Karsten Reise
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Correspondence to Karsten Reise.

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Communicated by S. Uthicke.

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Krakau, M., Jacobsen, S., Jensen, K.T. et al. The cockle Cerastoderma edule at Northeast Atlantic shores: genetic signatures of glacial refugia. Mar Biol 159, 221–230 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-011-1802-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-011-1802-8

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