Cryptic diversity and comparative phylogeography of the estuarine copepod Acartia tonsa on the US Atlantic coast

Molecular evidence for a new endemic species of Acartia (Copepoda, Calanoida) from the Southeast Pacific coast

The loss of biodiversity in marine populations is one of the consequences of the increased events of extreme environmental conditions in the oceans, which can condition the persistence of populations to future scenarios of climate change. Therefore, it is extremely necessary to explore and monitor the genetic diversity of natural populations. In the Southeast Pacific Ocean (SEPO), specifically on the coast of Chile, the presence of the copepod Acartia tonsa has been indicated solely using morphological evidence, due to the absence of genetic information. In the present work, the genetic diversity, population structure and phylogenetic position within the genus Acartia, of populations identified morphologically as A. tonsa, was evaluated by amplification of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I and nuclear marker 18 s. Our results showed that the populations identified as A. tonsa correspond to a new monophyletic group endemic to SEPO (GMYC = 1.00; PTP = 0.95). The populations showed moderate to high genetic diversity with an incipient structuring between populations and biogeographic zones. Our results suggest that despite the homogenizing effect of the Humboldt Current, isolation by distance and contrasting environmental conditions at different geographic scales have an important influence on the genetic diversity of zooplankton in the SEPO region.

Genome architecture underlying salinity adaptation in the invasive copepod Eurytemora affinis species complex: A review

With climate change, habitat salinity is shifting rapidly throughout the globe. In addition, many destructive freshwater invaders are recent immigrants from saline habitats. Recently, populations of the copepod Eurytemora affinis species complex have invaded freshwater habitats multiple times independently from saline estuaries on three continents. This review discusses features of this species complex that could enhance their evolutionary potential during rapid environmental change. Remarkably, across independent freshwater invasions, natural selection has repeatedly favored the same alleles far more than expected. This high degree of parallelism is surprising, given the expectation of nonparallel evolution for polygenic adaptation. Factors such as population structure and the genome architecture underlying critical traits under selection might help drive rapid adaptation and parallel evolution. Given the preponderance of saline-to-freshwater invasions and climate-induced salinity change, the principles found here could provide invaluable insights into mechanisms operating in other systems and the potential for adaptation in a changing planet.

Interactive Effects of Increasing Temperature and Decreasing Oxygen on Coastal Copepods

AbstractThe copepods of coastal seas are experiencing warming water temperatures, which increase their oxygen demand. In addition, many coastal seas are also losing oxygen because of deoxygenation due to cultural eutrophication. Warming coastal seas have changed copepod species' composition and biogeographic boundaries and, in many cases, resulted in copepod communities that have shifted in size distribution to smaller species. While increases in ambient water temperatures can explain some of these changes, deoxygenation has also been shown to result in reduced copepod growth rates, reduced size at adulthood, and altered species composition. In this review we focus on the interactive effects of temperature and dissolved oxygen on pelagic copepods, which dominate coastal zooplankton communities. The uniformity in ellipsoidal shape, the lack of external oxygen uptake organs, and the pathway of oxygen uptake through the copepod's integument make calanoid copepods ideal candidates for testing the use of an allometric approach to predict copepod size with increasing water temperatures and decreasing oxygen in coastal seas. Considering oxygen and temperature as a combined and interactive driver in coastal ecosystems will provide a unifying approach for future predictions of coastal copepod communities and their impact on fisheries and biogeochemical cycles. Given the prospect of increased oxygen limitation of copepods in warming seas, increased knowledge of the physiological ecology of present-day copepods in coastal deoxygenated zones can provide insights into the copepod communities that will inhabit a future warmer ocean.

Experimental evolution reveals the synergistic genomic mechanisms of adaptation to ocean warming and acidification in a marine copepod

Metazoan adaptation to global change relies on selection of standing genetic variation. Determining the extent to which this variation exists in natural populations, particularly for responses to simultaneous stressors, is essential to make accurate predictions for persistence in future conditions. Here, we identified the genetic variation enabling the copepod Acartia tonsa to adapt to experimental ocean warming, acidification, and combined ocean warming and acidification (OWA) over 25 generations of continual selection. Replicate populations showed a consistent polygenic response to each condition, targeting an array of adaptive mechanisms including cellular homeostasis, development, and stress response. We used a genome-wide covariance approach to partition the allelic changes into three categories: selection, drift and replicate-specific selection, and laboratory adaptation responses. The majority of allele frequency change in warming (57%) and OWA (63%) was driven by shared selection pressures across replicates, but this effect was weaker under acidification alone (20%). OWA and warming shared 37% of their response to selection but OWA and acidification shared just 1%, indicating that warming is the dominant driver of selection in OWA. Despite the dominance of warming, the interaction with acidification was still critical as the OWA selection response was highly synergistic with 47% of the allelic selection response unique from either individual treatment. These results disentangle how genomic targets of selection differ between single and multiple stressors and demonstrate the complexity that nonadditive multiple stressors will contribute to predictions of adaptation to complex environmental shifts caused by global change.

Geographic Variation of Phyllodiaptomus tunguidus Mitogenomes: Genetic Differentiation and Phylogeny

Phyllodiaptomus tunguidus (Copepoda: Calanoida) is largely endemic to and widespread in freshwater in southern China, where it inhabits a complex landscape from lowland to highland across an elevation gradient of 2000m. A deep genetic differentiation can be expected between its most distant geographic populations. Here, we sequenced nine mitogenomes from diverse populations. All mitogenomes contained 37 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCG), two rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes and one control region. Their base composition, genetic distance and tRNA structure indeed revealed a wide differentiation between mitogenomes. Two P. tunguidus from Guangxi near Vietnam differed from the other seven by up to 10.1%. Their tRNA-Arg had a complete clover-leaf structure, whereas that of the others did not contain an entire dihydrouridine arm. The nine mitogenomes also differed in the length of rRNA. NJ, ML, and Bayesian analyses all split them into two clades, viz. the two P. tunguidus from Guangxi (Clade 1), and the other seven (Clade 2). Both the structure and phylogeny of the mitogenomes suggest that P. tunguidus has complex geographic origin, and its populations in Clade 1 have long lived in isolation from those in Clade 2. They currently reach the level of subspecies or cryptic species. An extensive phylogenetic analysis of Copepoda further verified that Diaptomidae is the most recently diverging family in Calanoida and that P. tunguidus is at the evolutionary apex of the family.

Negative relationship between thermal tolerance and plasticity in tolerance emerges during experimental evolution in a widespread marine invertebrate

Whether populations can adapt to predicted climate change conditions, and how rapidly, are critical questions for the management of natural systems. Experimental evolution has become an important tool to answer these questions. In order to provide useful, realistic insights into the adaptive response of populations to climate change, there needs to be careful consideration of how genetic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity interact to generate observed phenotypic changes. We exposed three populations of the widespread copepod Acartia tonsa (Crustacea) to chronic, sublethal temperature selection for 15 generations. We generated thermal survivorship curves at regular intervals both during and after this period of selection to track the evolution of thermal tolerance. Using reciprocal transplants between ambient and warming conditions, we also tracked changes in the strength of phenotypic plasticity in thermal tolerance. We observed significant increases in thermal tolerance in the Warming lineages, while plasticity in thermal tolerance was strongly reduced. We suggest these changes are driven by a negative relationship between thermal tolerance and plasticity in thermal tolerance. Our results indicate that adaptation to warming through an increase in thermal tolerance might not reduce vulnerability to climate change if the increase comes at the expense of tolerance plasticity. These results illustrate the importance of considering changes in both a trait of interest and the trait plasticity during experimental evolution.

Proteomic fingerprinting facilitates biodiversity assessments in understudied ecosystems: A case study on integrated taxonomy of deep sea copepods

Accurate and reliable biodiversity estimates of marine zooplankton are a prerequisite to understand how changes in diversity can affect whole ecosystems. Species identification in the deep sea is significantly impeded by high numbers of new species and decreasing numbers of taxonomic experts, hampering any assessment of biodiversity. We used in parallel morphological, genetic, and proteomic characteristics of specimens of calanoid copepods from the abyssal South Atlantic to test if proteomic fingerprinting can accelerate estimating biodiversity. We cross-validated the respective molecular discrimination methods with morphological identifications to establish COI and proteomic reference libraries, as they are a pre-requisite to assign taxonomic information to the identified molecular species clusters. Due to the high number of new species only 37% of the individuals could be assigned to species or genus level morphologically. COI sequencing was successful for 70% of the specimens analysed, while proteomic fingerprinting was successful for all specimens examined. Predicted species richness based on morphological and molecular methods was 42 morphospecies, 56 molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) and 79 proteomic operational taxonomic units (POTUs), respectively. Species diversity was predicted based on proteomic profiles using hierarchical cluster analysis followed by application of the variance ratio criterion for identification of species clusters. It was comparable to species diversity calculated based on COI sequence distances. Less than 7% of specimens were misidentified by proteomic profiles when compared with COI derived MOTUs, indicating that unsupervised machine learning using solely proteomic data could be used for quickly assessing species diversity.

Genetic differentiation underlies seasonal variation in thermal tolerance, body size, and plasticity in a short-lived copepod

Organisms experience variation in the thermal environment on several different temporal scales, with seasonality being particularly prominent in temperate regions. For organisms with short generation times, seasonal variation is experienced across, rather than within, generations. How this affects the seasonal evolution of thermal tolerance and phenotypic plasticity is understudied, but has direct implications for the thermal ecology of these organisms. Here we document intra-annual patterns of thermal tolerance in two species of Acartia copepods (Crustacea) from a highly seasonal estuary, showing strong variation across the annual temperature cycle. Common garden, split-brood experiments indicate that this seasonal variation in thermal tolerance, along with seasonal variation in body size and phenotypic plasticity, is likely affected by genetic polymorphism. Our results show that adaptation to seasonal variation is important to consider when predicting how populations may respond to ongoing climate change.

Genetic diversity and connectivity of Flaccisagitta enflata (Chaetognatha: Sagittidae) in the tropical Atlantic ocean (northeastern Brazil)

The phylogeography of the holoplanktonic chaetognath Flaccisagitta enflata was investigated in the Tropical Western Atlantic (TWA). Considering the cosmopolitan range of this species and the fact that its entire life cycle is planktonic, the central hypothesis of this study is that F. enflata exhibits connectivity due to its high dispersal capacity, forming a panmictic population among the study sites. The evaluated areas included neritic (Port of Recife–PR, and Tamandaré - TA) and oceanic (Fernando de Noronha Archipelago—FN, Rocas Atoll—RA, Guará seamount—GS and Saint Peter and Saint Paul’s Archipelago—SPSPA) locations of the Brazilian Blue Amazon. We used COI gene sequences as molecular marker. Partial sequences (425 bp) were obtained for 116 specimens and employed to reconstruct the phylogeny, build an haplotype network, evaluate gene flow through a migration model, and estimate diversity indices, population structuring and demographic history. High levels of haplotype diversity (mean: 0.98) and moderate to high levels of nucleotide diversity (mean: 0.023) were observed. The phylogeny and the haplotype network topologies showed some geographic clustering, indicating local structuring in GS and PR. This finding was supported by the AMOVA high global Φst (0.033, significant) and some pairwise Φst comparisons (7 out of 15 were significantly >0). Significant differences suggested lower levels of connectivity when GS population was compared to those of FN and SPSPA; as well as when TA was compared to FN. These results might be related to particularities of the oceanic dynamics which rules the TWA, sustaining such dissimilarities. Structuring was also observed between PR and all oceanic locations. We hypothesize that the topography of the port inlet, enclosured by a reef barrier, may constrain the water turnover ratio and thus migration rates of F. enflata in the TWA. Accordingly, Migrate-N yielded a four metapopulations model (PR ⇌ TA ⇌ SPSPA+FN ⇌ GS+RA) as the best (highest probability; ~0.90) to represent the structuring of F. enflata in the TWA. Therefore, the null hypothesis of one randomly mating population cannot be accepted. The demographic evaluation demonstrated that the neutral hypothesis of stable populations may not be rejected for most of the locations. This work is the start point to broaden the knowledge on the phylogeography and population genetic structure of a numerically dominant species in the Western Atlantic, with key role in the marine trophic web.

Genetic diversity and novel lineages in the cosmopolitan copepod Pleuromamma abdominalis in the Southeast Pacific

Across boundary currents, zooplankton are subject to strong oceanographic gradients and hence strong selective pressures. How such gradients interact with the speciation process of pelagic organisms is still poorly understood in the open ocean realm. Here we report on genetic diversity within the pelagic copepod Pleuromamma abdominalis in the poorly known Southeast Pacific region, with samples spanning an ocean gradient from coastal upwelling to the oligotrophic South Pacific Subtropical Gyre. We assessed variation in fragments of the mitochondrial (mt) genes cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and Cytochrome b as well as in the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and 28 S rRNA. Phylogenetic analyses revealed the presence of 8 divergent lineages occurring across the gradient with genetic distances in the range of 0.036 and 0.44 (mt genes), and GMYC species delimitation methods support their inference as distinct (undescribed) species. Genetic lineages occurring across the zonal gradient showed strong genetic structuring, with the presence of at least two new lineages within the coastal upwelling zone, revealing an unexpectedly high level of endemism within the Humboldt Current System. Multivariate analyses found strong correlation between genetic variation and surface chlorophyll-a and salinity, suggesting an important role for hydrographic gradients in maintaining genetic diversity. However, the presence of cryptic lineages within the upwelling zone cannot be easily accounted for by environmental heterogeneity and poses challenging questions for understanding the speciation process for oceanic zooplankton.

Cryptic ecological and geographic diversification in coral-associated nudibranchs

Coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse ecosystems of the world, yet little is known about the processes creating and maintaining their diversity. Ecologically, corallivory in nudibranchs resembles phytophagy in insects- a process that for decades has served as a model for ecological speciation via host shifting. This study uses extensive field collections, DNA sequencing, and phylogenetic analyses to reconstruct the evolutionary history of coral-associated nudibranchs and assess the relative roles that host shifting and geography may have played in their diversification. We find that the number of species is three times higher than the number previously known to science, with evidence for both allopatric and ecological divergence through host shifting and host specialization. Results contribute to growing support for the importance of ecological diversification in marine environments and provide evidence for new species in the genus Tenellia.

Integrating patterns of thermal tolerance and phenotypic plasticity with population genetics to improve understanding of vulnerability to warming in a widespread copepod

Differences in population vulnerability to warming are defined by spatial patterns in thermal adaptation. These patterns may be driven by natural selection over spatial environmental gradients, but can also be shaped by gene flow, especially in marine taxa with high dispersal potential. Understanding and predicting organismal responses to warming requires disentangling the opposing effects of selection and gene flow. We begin by documenting genetic divergence of thermal tolerance and developmental phenotypic plasticity. Ten populations of the widespread copepod Acartia tonsa were collected from sites across a large thermal gradient, ranging from the Florida Keys to Northern New Brunswick, Canada (spanning over 20° latitude). Thermal performance curves (TPCs) from common garden experiments revealed local adaptation at the sampling range extremes, with thermal tolerance increasing at low latitudes and decreasing at high latitudes. The opposite pattern was observed in phenotypic plasticity, which was strongest at high latitudes. No relationship was observed between phenotypic plasticity and environmental variables. Instead, the results are consistent with the hypothesis of a trade-off between thermal tolerance and the strength of phenotypic plasticity. Over a large portion of the sampled range, however, we observed a remarkable lack of differentiation of TPCs. To examine whether this lack of divergence is the result of selection for a generalist performance curve or constraint by gene flow, we analyzed cytochrome oxidase I mtDNA sequences, which revealed four distinct genetic clades, abundant genetic diversity, and widely distributed haplotypes. Strong divergence in thermal performance within genetic clades, however, suggests that the pace of thermal adaptation can be relatively rapid. The combined insight from the laboratory physiological experiments and genetic data indicate that gene flow constrains differentiation of TPCs. This balance between gene flow and selection has implications for patterns of vulnerability to warming. Taking both genetic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity into account, our results suggest that local adaptation does not increase vulnerability to warming, and that low-latitude populations in general may be more vulnerable to predicted temperature change over the next century.

Multiple convergent events created a nominal widespread species: Triplophysa stoliczkae (Steindachner, 1866) (Cobitoidea: Nemacheilidae)

BACKGROUND

Triplophysa stoliczkae is the most widespread species in the genus Triplophysa and may have originated from morphological convergence. To understand the evolutionary history of T. stoliczkae, we employed a multilocus approach to investigate the phylogenetics and the morphological evolution of T. stoliczkae on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

RESULTS

All phylogenetic analyses (two mitochondrial and five nuclear loci), a genealogical sorting index and species tree inferences suggested that T. stoliczkae consists of distinct lineages that were not closest relatives. The time estimation indicated that the divergence events between "T. stoliczkae" and other Triplophysa species occurred from approximately 0.10 to 4.51 Ma. The ancestral state analyses supported the independent evolution of T. stoliczkae morphology in distinct lineages. The morphometric analysis and convergence estimates demonstrated significant phenotypic convergence among "T. stoliczkae" lineages.

CONCLUSIONS

Triplophysa stoliczkae includes 4 different lineages with similar morphologies. The increasingly harsh environments that have occurred since the Pliocene have driven the occurrences of scrape-feeding fish in the genus Triplophysa. Morphological adaptations associated with scrape-feeding behavior resulted in convergences and the artificial lumping of four different species in the nominal taxon T. stoliczkae. A taxonomic revision for T. stoliczkae is needed.

Increased tolerance to oil exposure by the cosmopolitan marine copepod Acartia tonsa

Oil contamination is an environmental hazard to marine ecosystems, but marine organism tolerance to oil after many generations of exposure remains poorly known. We studied the effects of transgenerational oil exposure on fitness-related traits in a cosmopolitan neritic copepod, Acartia tonsa. Copepods were exposed to an oil compound, the PAH pyrene, at concentrations of 1, 10, 100 and 100+(the saturated pyrene concentration in seawater)nM over two generations and measured survival, sex ratio, size at maturity, grazing rate and reproductive success. Exposure to the pyrene concentration of 100+nM resulted in 100% mortality before adulthood in the first generation. At the pyrene concentration of 100nM, pyrene reduced grazing rate, increased mortality, reduced the size of females and caused lower egg production and hatching success. Importantly, we found strong evidence for increased tolerance to pyrene exposure in the second generation: the reduction in size at maturity of females was less pronounced in the second generation and survival, egg production and hatching success were recovered to control levels in the second generation. The increased tolerance of copepods to oil contamination may dampen the direct ecological consequences of a coastal oil spill, but it raises the concern whether a larger fraction of oil components accumulated in survived copepods, may be transferred up the food web.

Evolutionary History of Chemosensory-Related Gene Families across the Arthropoda

Chemosensory-related gene (CRG) families have been studied extensively in insects, but their evolutionary history across the Arthropoda had remained relatively unexplored. Here, we address current hypotheses and prior conclusions on CRG family evolution using a more comprehensive data set. In particular, odorant receptors were hypothesized to have proliferated during terrestrial colonization by insects (hexapods), but their association with other pancrustacean clades and with independent terrestrial colonizations in other arthropod subphyla have been unclear. We also examine hypotheses on which arthropod CRG family is most ancient. Thus, we reconstructed phylogenies of CRGs, including those from new arthropod genomes and transcriptomes, and mapped CRG gains and losses across arthropod lineages. Our analysis was strengthened by including crustaceans, especially copepods, which reside outside the hexapod/branchiopod clade within the subphylum Pancrustacea. We generated the first high-resolution genome sequence of the copepod Eurytemora affinis and annotated its CRGs. We found odorant receptors and odorant binding proteins present only in hexapods (insects) and absent from all other arthropod lineages, indicating that they are not universal adaptations to land. Gustatory receptors likely represent the oldest chemosensory receptors among CRGs, dating back to the Placozoa. We also clarified and confirmed the evolutionary history of antennal ionotropic receptors across the Arthropoda. All antennal ionotropic receptors in E. affinis were expressed more highly in males than in females, suggestive of an association with male mate-recognition behavior. This study is the most comprehensive comparative analysis to date of CRG family evolution across the largest and most speciose metazoan phylum Arthropoda.

Phylogenomic analysis of Copepoda (Arthropoda, Crustacea) reveals unexpected similarities with earlier proposed morphological phylogenies

BACKGROUND

Copepods play a critical role in marine ecosystems but have been poorly investigated in phylogenetic studies. Morphological evidence supports the monophyly of copepods, whereas interordinal relationships continue to be debated. In particular, the phylogenetic position of the order Harpacticoida is still ambiguous and inconsistent among studies. Until now, a small number of molecular studies have been done using only a limited number or even partial genes and thus there is so far no consensus at the order-level.

RESULTS

This study attempted to resolve phylogenetic relationships among and within four major copepod orders including Harpacticoida and the phylogenetic position of Copepoda among five other crustacean groups (Anostraca, Cladocera, Sessilia, Amphipoda, and Decapoda) using 24 nuclear protein-coding genes. Phylogenomics has confirmed the monophyly of Copepoda and Podoplea. However, this study reveals surprising differences with the majority of the copepod phylogenies and unexpected similarities with postembryonic characters and earlier proposed morphological phylogenies; More precisely, Cyclopoida is more closely related to Siphonostomatoida than to Harpacticoida which is likely the most basally-branching group of Podoplea. Divergence time estimation suggests that the origin of Harpacticoida can be traced back to the Devonian, corresponding well with recently discovered fossil evidence. Copepoda has a close affinity to the clade of Malacostraca and Thecostraca but not to Branchiopoda. This result supports the hypothesis of the newly proposed clades, Communostraca, Multicrustacea, and Allotriocarida but further challenges the validity of Hexanauplia and Vericrustacea.

CONCLUSIONS

The first phylogenomic study of Copepoda provides new insights into taxonomic relationships and represents a valuable resource that improves our understanding of copepod evolution and their wide range of ecological adaptations.

Global phylogeography of Oithona similis s.l. (Crustacea, Copepoda, Oithonidae) - A cosmopolitan plankton species or a complex of cryptic lineages?

Traditionally, many small-sized copepod species are considered to be widespread, bipolar or cosmopolitan. However, these large-scale distribution patterns need to be re-examined in view of increasing evidence of cryptic and pseudo-cryptic speciation in pelagic copepods. Here, we present a phylogeographic study of Oithona similis s.l. populations from the Arctic Ocean, the Southern Ocean and its northern boundaries, the North Atlantic and the Mediterrranean Sea. O. similis s.l. is considered as one of the most abundant species in temperate to polar oceans and acts as an important link in the trophic network between the microbial loop and higher trophic levels such as fish larvae. Two gene fragments were analysed: the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase c subunit I (COI), and the nuclear ribosomal 28 S genetic marker. Seven distinct, geographically delimitated, mitochondrial lineages could be identified, with divergences among the lineages ranging from 8 to 24%, thus representing most likely cryptic or pseudocryptic species within O. similis s.l. Four lineages were identified within or close to the borders of the Southern Ocean, one lineage in the Arctic Ocean and two lineages in the temperate Northern hemisphere. Surprisingly the Arctic lineage was more closely related to lineages from the Southern hemisphere than to the other lineages from the Northern hemisphere, suggesting that geographic proximity is a rather poor predictor of how closely related the clades are on a genetic level.

DNA Barcoding of Metazoan Zooplankton Copepods from South Korea

Copepods, small aquatic crustaceans, are the most abundant metazoan zooplankton and outnumber every other group of multicellular animals on earth. In spite of ecological and biological importance in aquatic environment, their morphological plasticity, originated from their various lifestyles and their incomparable capacity to adapt to a variety of environments, has made the identification of species challenging, even for expert taxonomists. Molecular approaches to species identification have allowed rapid detection, discrimination, and identification of cryptic or sibling species based on DNA sequence data. We examined sequence variation of a partial mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase I gene (COI) from 133 copepod individuals collected from the Korean Peninsula, in order to identify and discriminate 94 copepod species covering six copepod orders of Calanoida, Cyclopoida, Harpacticoida, Monstrilloida, Poecilostomatoida and Siphonostomatoida. The results showed that there exists a clear gap with ca. 20 fold difference between the averages of within-specific sequence divergence (2.42%) and that of between-specific sequence divergence (42.79%) in COI, suggesting the plausible utility of this gene in delimitating copepod species. The results showed, with the COI barcoding data among 94 copepod species, that a copepod species could be distinguished from the others very clearly, only with four exceptions as followings: Mesocyclops dissimilis–Mesocyclops pehpeiensis (0.26% K2P distance in percent) and Oithona davisae–Oithona similis (1.1%) in Cyclopoida, Ostrincola japonica–Pseudomyicola spinosus (1.5%) in Poecilostomatoida, and Hatschekia japonica–Caligus quadratus (5.2%) in Siphonostomatoida. Thus, it strongly indicated that COI may be a useful tool in identifying various copepod species and make an initial progress toward the construction of a comprehensive DNA barcode database for copepods inhabiting the Korean Peninsula.

Temporal Stability of Genetic Structure in a Mesopelagic Copepod

Although stochasticity in oceanographic conditions is known to be an important driver of temporal genetic change in many marine species, little is known about whether genetically distinct plankton populations can persist in open ocean habitats. A prior study demonstrated significant population genetic structure among oceanic gyres in the mesopelagic copepod Haloptilus longicornis in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and we hypothesized that populations within each gyre represent distinct gene pools that persist over time. We tested this expectation through basin-scale sampling across the Atlantic Ocean in 2010 and 2012. Using both mitochondrial (mtCOII) and microsatellite markers (7 loci), we show that the genetic composition of populations was stable across two years in both the northern and southern subtropical gyres. Genetic variation in this species was partitioned among ocean gyres (F_CT = 0.285, P < 0.0001 for mtCOII, F_CT = 0.013, P < 0.0001 for microsatellites), suggesting strong spatial population structure, but no significant partitioning was found among sampling years. This temporal persistence of population structure across a large geographic scale was coupled with chaotic genetic patchiness at smaller spatial scales, but the magnitude of genetic differentiation was an order of magnitude lower at these smaller scales. Our results demonstrate that genetically distinct plankton populations persist over time in highly-dispersive open ocean habitats, and this is the first study to rigorously test for temporal stability of large scale population structure in the plankton.

The Centipede Genus Scolopendra in Mainland Southeast Asia: Molecular Phylogenetics, Geometric Morphometrics and External Morphology as Tools for Species Delimitation

Seven Scolopendra species from the Southeast Asian mainland delimited based on standard external morphological characters represent monophyletic groups in phylogenetic trees inferred from concatenated sequences of three gene fragments (cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1, 16S rRNA and 28S rRNA) using Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. Geometric morphometric description of shape variation in the cephalic plate, forcipular coxosternite, and tergite of the ultimate leg-bearing segment provides additional criteria for distinguishing species. Colouration patterns in some Scolopendra species show a high degree of fit to phylogenetic trees at the population level. The most densely sampled species, Scolopendra dehaani Brandt, 1840, has three subclades with allopatric distributions in mainland SE Asia. The molecular phylogeny of S. pinguis Pocock, 1891, indicated ontogenetic colour variation among its populations. The taxonomic validation of S. dawydoffi Kronmüller, 2012, S. japonica Koch, 1878, and S. dehaani Brandt, 1840, each a former subspecies of S. subspinipes Leach, 1814 sensu Lewis, 2010, as full species was supported by molecular information and additional morphological data. Species delimitation in these taxonomically challenging animals is facilitated by an integrative approach that draws on both morphology and molecular phylogeny.

Multilocus evidence for globally distributed cryptic species and distinct populations across ocean gyres in a mesopelagic copepod

Zooplanktonic taxa have a greater number of distinct populations and species than might be predicted based on their large population sizes and open-ocean habitat, which lacks obvious physical barriers to dispersal and gene flow. To gain insight into the evolutionary mechanisms driving genetic diversification in zooplankton, we developed eight microsatellite markers to examine the population structure of an abundant, globally distributed mesopelagic copepod, Haloptilus longicornis, at 18 sample sites across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (n = 761). When comparing our microsatellite results with those of a prior study that used a mtDNA marker (mtCOII, n = 1059, 43 sample sites), we unexpectedly found evidence for the presence of a cryptic species pair. These species were globally distributed and apparently sympatric, and were separated by relatively weak genetic divergence (reciprocally monophyletic mtCOII lineages 1.6% divergent; microsatellite FST ranging from 0.28 to 0.88 across loci, P < 0.00001). Using both mtDNA and microsatellite data for the most common of the two species (n = 669 for microsatellites, n = 572 for mtDNA), we also found evidence for allopatric barriers to gene flow within species, with distinct populations separated by continental landmasses and equatorial waters in both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins. Our study shows that oceanic barriers to gene flow can act as a mechanism promoting allopatric diversification in holoplanktonic taxa, despite the high potential dispersal abilities and pelagic habitat for these species.

Taking the discovery approach in integrative taxonomy: decrypting a complex of narrow-endemic Alpine harvestmen (Opiliones: Phalangiidae: Megabunus)

Species delimitation is fundamental for biological studies, yet precise delimitation is not an easy task, and every involved approach has an inherent failure rate. Integrative taxonomy, a method that merges multiple lines of evidence, can profoundly contribute to reliable alpha-taxonomy and shed light on the processes behind speciation. In this study, we explored and validated species limits in a group of closely related Megabunus harvestmen (Eupnoi, Phalangiidae) endemic to the European Alps. Without a priori species hypotheses, we used multiple sources of inference, including mitochondrial and multilocus nuclear DNA, morphometrics and chemistry. The results of these discovery approaches revealed morphological crypsis and multiple new species within two of the five hitherto known species. Based on our analyses, we discussed the most plausible evolutionary scenarios, invoked the most reasonable species hypotheses and validated the new species limits. Building upon the achieved rigour, three new species, Megabunus cryptobergomas Muster and Wachter sp. nov., Megabunus coelodonta Muster and Steiner sp. nov., and Megabunus lentipes Muster and Komposch sp. nov., are formally described. In addition, we provide a dichotomous morphological key to the Megabunus species of the Alps. Our work demonstrates the suitability of integrative, discovery-based approaches in combination with validation approaches to precisely characterize species and enabled us to implement nomenclatural consequences for this genus.

The necessity of DNA taxonomy to reveal cryptic diversity and spatial distribution of meiofauna, with a focus on Nemertea

Meiofauna represent one of the most abundant and diverse communities in marine benthic ecosystems. However, an accurate assessment of diversity at the level of species has been and remains challenging for these microscopic organisms. Therefore, for many taxa, especially the soft body forms such as nemerteans, which often lack clear diagnostic morphological traits, DNA taxonomy is an effective means to assess species diversity. Morphological taxonomy of Nemertea is well documented as complicated by scarcity of unambiguous character states and compromised by diagnoses of a majority of species (and higher clades) being inadequate or based on ambiguous characters and character states. Therefore, recent studies have advocated for the primacy of molecular tools to solve the taxonomy of this group. DNA taxonomy uncovers possible hidden cryptic species, provides a coherent means to systematize taxa in definite clades, and also reveals possible biogeographic patterns. Here, we analyze diversity of nemertean species by considering the barcode region of the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome Oxidase subunit I (COI) and different species delineation approaches in order to infer evolutionarily significant units. In the aim to uncover actual diversity of meiofaunal nemerteans across different sites in Central America, COI sequences were obtained for specimens assigned here to the genera Cephalothrix, Ototyphlonemertes, and Tetrastemma-like worms, each commonly encountered in our sampling. Additional genetic, taxonomic, and geographic data of other specimens belonging to these genera were added from GenBank. Results are consistent across different DNA taxonomy approaches, and revealed (i) the presence of several hidden cryptic species and (ii) numerous potential misidentifications due to traditional taxonomy. (iii) We additionally test a possible biogeographic pattern of taxonomic units revealed by this study, and, except for a few cases, the putative species seem not to be widely distributed, in contrast to what traditional taxonomy would suggest for the recognized morphotypes.

DNA barcoding of marine copepods: assessment of analytical approaches to species identification

More than 2,500 species of copepods (Class Maxillopoda; Subclass Copepoda) occur in the marine planktonic environment. The exceptional morphological conservation of the group, with numerous sibling species groups, makes the identification of species challenging, even for expert taxonomists. Molecular approaches to species identification have allowed rapid detection, discrimination, and identification of species based on DNA sequencing of single specimens and environmental samples. Despite the recent development of diverse genetic and genomic markers, the barcode region of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene remains a useful and - in some cases - unequaled diagnostic character for species-level identification of copepods. This study reports 800 new barcode sequences for 63 copepod species not included in any previous study and examines the reliability and resolution of diverse statistical approaches to species identification based upon a dataset of 1,381 barcode sequences for 195 copepod species. We explore the impact of missing data (i.e., species not represented in the barcode database) on the accuracy and reliability of species identifications. Among the tested approaches, the best close match analysis resulted in accurate identification of all individuals to species, with no errors (false positives), and out-performed automated tree-based or BLAST based analyses. This comparative analysis yields new understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of DNA barcoding and confirms the value of DNA barcodes for species identification of copepods, including both individual specimens and bulk samples. Continued integrative morphological-molecular taxonomic analysis is needed to produce a taxonomically-comprehensive database of barcode sequences for all species of marine copepods.

Evidence of cryptic and pseudocryptic speciation in the Paracalanus parvus species complex (Crustacea, Copepoda, Calanoida)

Introduction

Many marine planktonic crustaceans such as copepods have been considered as widespread organisms. However, the growing evidence for cryptic and pseudo-cryptic speciation has emphasized the need of re-evaluating the status of copepod species complexes in molecular and morphological studies to get a clearer picture about pelagic marine species as evolutionary units and their distributions. This study analyses the molecular diversity of the ecologically important Paracalanus parvus species complex. Its seven currently recognized species are abundant and also often dominant in marine coastal regions worldwide from temperate to tropical oceans.

Results

COI and Cytochrome b sequences of 160 specimens of the Paracalanus parvus complex from all oceans were obtained. Furthermore, 42 COI sequences from GenBank were added for the genetic analyses. Thirteen distinct molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTU) and two single sequences were revealed with cladistic analyses (Maximum Likelihood, Bayesian Inference), of which seven were identical with results from species delimitation methods (barcode gaps, ABDG, GMYC, Rosenberg’s P(AB)). In total, 10 to 12 putative species were detected and could be placed in three categories: (1) temperate geographically isolated, (2) warm-temperate to tropical wider spread and (3) circumglobal warm-water species.

Conclusions

The present study provides evidence of cryptic or pseudocryptic speciation in the Paracalanus parvus complex. One major insight is that the species Paracalanus parvus s.s. is not panmictic, but may be restricted in its distribution to the northeastern Atlantic.

High cryptic diversity across the global range of the migratory planktonic copepods Pleuromamma piseki and P. gracilis

Although holoplankton are ocean drifters and exhibit high dispersal potential, a number of studies on single species are finding highly divergent genetic clades. These cryptic species complexes are important to discover and describe, as identification of common marine species is fundamental to understanding ecosystem dynamics. Here we investigate the global diversity within Pleuromamma piseki and P. gracilis, two dominant members of the migratory zooplankton assemblage in subtropical and tropical waters worldwide. Using DNA sequence data from the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (mtCOII) from 522 specimens collected across the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, we discover twelve well-resolved genetically distinct clades in this species complex (Bayesian posterior probabilities >0.7; 6.3–17% genetic divergence between clades). The morphologically described species P. piseki and P. gracilis did not form monophyletic groups, rather they were distributed throughout the phylogeny and sometimes co-occurred within well-resolved clades: this result suggests that morphological characters currently used for taxonomic identification of P. gracilis and P. piseki may be inaccurate as indicators of species’ boundaries. Cryptic clades within the species complex ranged from being common to rare, and from cosmopolitan to highly restricted in distribution across the global ocean. These novel lineages appear to be ecologically divergent, with distinct biogeographic distributions across varied pelagic habitats. We hypothesize that these mtDNA lineages are distinct species and suggest that resolving their systematic status is important, given the ecological significance of the genus Pleuromamma in subtropical-tropical waters worldwide.

High evolutionary potential of marine zooplankton

Open ocean zooplankton often have been viewed as slowly evolving species that have limited capacity to respond adaptively to changing ocean conditions. Hence, attention has focused on the ecological responses of zooplankton to current global change, including range shifts and changing phenology. Here, we argue that zooplankton also are well poised for evolutionary responses to global change. We present theoretical arguments that suggest plankton species may respond rapidly to selection on mildly beneficial mutations due to exceptionally large population size, and consider the circumstantial evidence that supports our inference that selection may be particularly important for these species. We also review all primary population genetic studies of open ocean zooplankton and show that genetic isolation can be achieved at the scale of gyre systems in open ocean habitats (100s to 1000s of km). Furthermore, population genetic structure often varies across planktonic taxa, and appears to be linked to the particular ecological requirements of the organism. In combination, these characteristics should facilitate adaptive evolution to distinct oceanographic habitats in the plankton. We conclude that marine zooplankton may be capable of rapid evolutionary as well as ecological responses to changing ocean conditions, and discuss the implications of this view. We further suggest two priority areas for future research to test our hypothesis of high evolutionary potential in open ocean zooplankton, which will require (1) assessing how pervasive selection is in driving population divergence and (2) rigorously quantifying the spatial and temporal scales of population differentiation in the open ocean. Recent attention has focused on the ecological responses of open ocean zooplankton to current global change, including range shifts and changing phenology. Here, we argue that marine zooplankton also are well poised for evolutionary responses to global change.

Comparison of molecular species identification for North Sea calanoid copepods (Crustacea) using proteome fingerprints and DNA sequences

Calanoid copepods play an important role in the pelagic ecosystem making them subject to various taxonomic and ecological studies, as well as indicators for detecting changes in the marine habitat. For all these investigations, valid identification, mainly of sibling and cryptic species as well as early life history stages, represents a central issue. In this study, we compare species identification methods for pelagic calanoid copepod species from the North Sea and adjacent regions in a total of 333 specimens. Morphologically identified specimens were analysed on the basis of nucleotide sequences (i.e. partial mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and complete 18S rDNA) and on proteome fingerprints using the technology of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). On all three molecular approaches, all specimens were classified to species level indicated by low intraspecific and high interspecific variability. Sequence divergences in both markers revealed a second Pseudocalanus species for the southern North Sea identified as Pseudocalanus moultoni by COI sequence comparisons to GenBank. Proteome fingerprints were valid for species clusters irrespective of high intraspecific variability, including significant differences between early developmental stages and adults. There was no effect of sampling region or time; thus, trophic effect, when analysing the whole organisms, was observed in species-specific protein mass spectra, underlining the power of this tool in the application on metazoan species identification. Because of less sample preparation steps, we recommend proteomic fingerprinting using the MALDI-TOF MS as an alternative or supplementary approach for rapid, cost-effective species identification.

Population differentiation in the open sea: insights from the pelagic copepod Pleuromamma xiphias

Although a number of recent studies of marine holoplankton have reported significant genetic structure among populations, little is currently known about the biological and oceanographic processes that influence population connectivity in oceanic plankton. In order to examine how depth preferences influence dispersal in oceanic plankton, I characterized the genetic structure of a copepod with diel vertical migration (DVM) (Pleuromamma xiphias), throughout its global distribution, and compared these results to those expected given the interaction of this species' habitat depth with ocean circulation and bathymetry. Mitochondrial COI sequences from 651 individuals from 28 sites in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans revealed highly significant genetic differentiation both within and among ocean basins. Limited dispersal among distinct pelagic provinces seems to have played a major role in population differentiation in this species, with strong genetic breaks observed across known oceanographic fronts or current systems in all three ocean basins. The Indo-West Pacific (IWP) holds a highly distinct genetic population of this species that was sampled in both the western Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans. This suggests that the IWP does not act as a strong barrier to gene flow between basins, as expected, despite the relatively shallow water depth (<200 m) and vertically extensive (>400 m) diel migration of this species. A pattern of isolation by distance was observed in the Indian Ocean with genetic differentiation among samples down to spatial scales of ∼800 km, indicating that realized dispersal in P. xiphias occurs over much smaller spatial scales than in previously reported oceanic holoplankton. Given its highly regionalized population genetic structure, P. xiphias may have some capacity to adapt to local oceanographic conditions, and it should not be assumed that populations of this species in distinct pelagic biomes will respond in the same way to shared physical or climatic forcing.

Spatially structured populations with a low level of cryptic diversity in European marine Gastrotricha

Species of the marine meiofauna such as Gastrotricha are known to lack dispersal stages and are thus assumed to have low dispersal ability and low levels of gene flow between populations. Yet, most species are widely distributed, and this creates a paradox. To shed light on this apparent paradox, we test (i) whether such wide distribution may be due to misidentification and lumping of cryptic species with restricted distributions and (ii) whether spatial structures exist for the phylogeography of gastrotrichs. As a model, we used the genus Turbanella in NW Europe. DNA taxonomy using a mitochondrial and a nuclear marker supports distinctness of four traditional species (Turbanella ambronensis, T. bocqueti, T. mustela and T. cornuta) and provides evidence for two cryptic species within T. hyalina. An effect of geography on the within-species genetic structure is indeed present, with the potential for understanding colonization processes and for performing phylogeographic inference from microscopic animals. On the other hand, the occurrence of widely distributed haplotypes indicates long-distance dispersal as well, despite the assumed low dispersal ability of gastrotrichs.