Phylogeography of Common Whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus L.) of Northwestern Russia

Abstract

This paper elucidates the features of colonization by whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus L.) of waterbodies of the European part of Russia in relation to Pleistocene glaciation. Based on the data on the frequencies and phylogenetic relationships of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes, a significant role of migrants from the western periglacial refugia is shown. The first large refugium was located at the North Atlantic; the second was at the South-Eastern Baltic. Until the last glaciation, with the maximum at about 20000 years ago, migrations from Siberia took place as well. However, at present the descendants of these migrants in the waterbodies of Northwestern Russia are not the dominants. The size of the refugium where the population lived prior to expansion may be an important condition for the successful spreading of common whitefish.