Identifying main evolutionary mechanisms shaping genetic variation of Leuciscus cephalus L. 1758 (Cyprinidae) in Western Greece: discordance between methods

Abstract

Numerous methods can be used in intraspecific phylogeographic studies to infer the evolutionary mechanisms that shaped observed genetic variation in populations. However, these methods are scarcely used jointly, and the evolutionary outcomes they could propose are not fully compared. In this study, using a chub (Leuciscus cephalus; Cyprinidae) mitochondrial DNA data set (13 populations in Western Greece, 14 haplotypes), we compare three distinct ‘historical’ methods that could possibly infer relative importance of basic evolutionary mechanisms (isolation vs migration) shaping genetic variation: the nested clade analysis, the Ψ-test and the ‘mismatch distributions’. Taking together, interpretations of these analyses allow to draw a picture of the evolutionary history of chub in Western Greece based on isolation and genetic drift for higher clades. However, results issued each method can differ for low differentiated clades. We discuss such differences and suggest that methods should be used jointly in phylogeographic studies for a better evaluation of the evolutionary mechanisms that shaped genetic variation.