A taxonomic revision of the whitefish of Lakes Brienz and Thun, Switzerland, with description of three new species.

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event A taxonomic revision of the whitefish of Lakes Brienz and Thun, Switzerland, with description of three new species. Oliver M. Selz1, 2*, Ole Seehausen1, 2, Carmela J. Dönz1, 2 and Pascal Vonlanthen1, 3 1 Centre of Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Switzerland 2 University of Bern, Switzerland 3 Aquabios GmbH, Switzerland The European whitefish (Coregonus spp.) provide prime examples of postglacial adaptive radiations with up to six species occurring in a single lake of the prealpine region. Despite this enigmatic species richness, approximately one-third of the species diversity in Swiss Lakes has not yet been taxonomically resolved. Here we review and revise the alpha taxonomy of the endemic whitefish of Lakes Brienz and Thun, Switzerland. We evaluate the status of six known species, of which three have been previously described. With a combination of species-targeted and habitat-randomised fishing surveys during or outside of the spawning season we are able to reveal with an integrative taxonomic approach of combining genetic assignments with morphological and meristic traits and multivariate statistical methods six whitefish species. Four species occur in both lakes Thun and Brienz and two species, a profundal specialist and a species of partial allochthonous origin, are unique to Lake Thun. Despite many past and present anthropogenic pressures, Lakes Thun and Brienz today harbour the most speciose whitefish radiation of the prealpine region. We further show that two of these species are present in Lake Biel, which has been artificially connected downstream of the lakes Thun and Brienz through the Aare river approx. 150 years ago. This work highlights that species delineation and description in such rich radiations requires an integrative approach to taxonomy, combining morphology with genetics and ecology and large contemporary and historical specimen collections. Such work is also much needed for conservation-minded fisheries management because human-made changes to the connectivity of water bodies as well as deliberate introductions, are increasing the distribution ranges of species and cause previously isolated biota to mix. Keywords: Coregonus, Salmonidae, Whitefish, adaptive radiation, ecological speciation, Integrative taxonomy Conference: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2 Sep - 6 Sep, 2019. Presentation Type: Oral Topic: TAXONOMY, PHYLOGENY AND ZOOGEOGRAPHY Citation: Selz OM, Seehausen O, Dönz CJ and Vonlanthen P (2019). A taxonomic revision of the whitefish of Lakes Brienz and Thun, Switzerland, with description of three new species.. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.07.00112 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 05 Jun 2019; Published Online: 14 Aug 2019. * Correspondence: Dr. Oliver M Selz, Centre of Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Kastanienbaum, 6047, Switzerland, oliver.selz@eawag.ch Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Oliver M Selz Ole Seehausen Carmela J Dönz Pascal Vonlanthen Google Oliver M Selz Ole Seehausen Carmela J Dönz Pascal Vonlanthen Google Scholar Oliver M Selz Ole Seehausen Carmela J Dönz Pascal Vonlanthen PubMed Oliver M Selz Ole Seehausen Carmela J Dönz Pascal Vonlanthen Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.