The population structure of the land snail Ventridens ligera (Say, 1821) was investigated in the Potomac River Basin (Virginia, Maryland, U.S.A.). Animals were collected from two islands and the adjacent riverbanks along an 8.8-km stretch of the river. Four landlocked populations in Illinois and Maryland were also sampled to provide a comparison to the river populations. A total of 246 individuals were genotyped with five newly designed species-specific microsatellite primers. Low pairwise FST values (<0.0477) among the Potomac River sites suggest high levels of gene flow between the populations. In contrast, the landlocked populations had high FST values (0.0738 to 0.6004) which suggest genetic structuring, most likely due to physical isolation, because FST values >0.2 indicate population structuring. Low-level isolation by distance was found among the Potomac River populations, and the low FST suggests that the river is facilitating gene flow rather than acting as a barrier.
How to translate text using browser tools
1 February 2010
Surfing Snails: Population Genetics of the Land Snail Ventridens ligera (Stylommatophora: Zonitidae) in the Potomac Gorge
Colleen S. Sinclair
ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE
American Malacological Bulletin
Vol. 28 • No. 2
February 2010
Vol. 28 • No. 2
February 2010
genetic diversity
isolation by distance
microsatellite