The Mechanisms for Genetic Diversity of Baikal Endemic Amphipod Gmelinoides fasciatus: Relationships between the Population Processes and Paleoclimatic History of the Lake

Abstract

Amphipods of the species Gmelinoides fasciatus are one of the dominant species in the littoral zone community of Lake Baikal. Earlier, on the basis of the analysis of the mitochondrial COX1 gene, four isolated populations within the species range were identified, between which there were no distinct geographical barriers. In the present study, a phylogenetic reconstruction of the evolutionary history of G. fasciatus with the molecular clock hypothesis is carried out. The population divergence time is dated back to the onset of global climate changes on the Pleistocene–Pliocene boundary at 1.8–2.3 Ma. As a result, the estimated substitution rate in the COX1 gene for G. fasciatus was 1.2–2.4% of substitutions per Myr, which corresponded to the values determined for other groups of invertebrates. It was demonstrated that geographical barriers that formed the populations of G. fasciatus periodically appeared and disappeared in the past, resulting from climate changes associated with the periods of global cooling and warming.