Abstract
Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region (CR) was used to examine the dispersal of females of a geo- metrid moth, Epirrita autumnata, in Fennoscandia. A 542-bp-portion of the CR of 200 individuals from four northern and four southern localities was sequenced. The mtDNA CR of E. autumnata contains a substantial amount of variation as a total of 108 mtDNA haplotypes were observed. Between the northern and the southern localities (~1100 km), there was a moderate level of genetic differentiation (FST = 0.128). The amount of variation in the mtDNA CR of E. autumnata was lower in the north than in the south. The reduction in genetic variability may result from a combination of historical bottlenecks that date back to the post-glacial recolonization of Fennoscandia and, present-day bottlenecks due to the northern E. autumnata populations experiencing repeated outbreaks followed by collapse in population size. On a small spatial scale (0.6-19 km), within the northern and southern areas, no genetic differentiation was detected suggesting ongoing gene flow due to the dispersal of E. autumnata females among the localities. This finding was contrary to our earlier expectation of poor flying ability of E. autumnata females.
Highlights
Dispersal is not usually addressed in field studies on insect population ecology
We attempted to measure the dispersal of females directly but failed because in mark-release-recapture studies E. autumnata females are not efficiently recaptured by light traps
We attempted to estimate the dispersal of E. autumnata females indirectly, using variation in mitochondrial DNA
Summary
Dispersal is not usually addressed in field studies on insect population ecology. In the population dynamic context, dispersal of females is the decisive factor, because it is the females that lay the eggs. We attempted to measure the dispersal of females directly but failed because in mark-release-recapture studies E. autumnata females are not efficiently recaptured by light traps. In addition to their inefficiency the light traps are inconvenient at large spatial scales, e.g. several kilometres. We attempted to estimate the dispersal of E. autumnata females indirectly, using variation in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). In contrast to the northern populations the density in more southern populations, e.g. in southern Finland, is relatively stable and without outbreaks (Tenow, 1972; Tanhuanpää et al, 1999). In addition to spatial scales relevant to the dispersal of females, we include in this paper an analysis of mtDNA variation in the northern and southern populations of E. autumnata
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