Abstract
The Lusitanian slug, presumed to be native to south-west Europe, was ranked among the 100 worst invading species in Central Europe. However, from the very beginning of its recognition in the presumed invasion area, there was little evidence that the species was actually anthropogenically introduced. We investigated the invasive status of the species by comparing specific predictions on the population genetic structure in the invasion area with the pattern actually found. In a DNA-taxonomy approach, the species could not be found in its presumed native range. Using statistical phylogeographic techniques on a mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (ZF) marker and species distribution modelling, we could show that the species is with very high probability not an invasor, but native to Central Europe. The study underlines the value of statistical phylogeography in rigorously testing hypotheses on the dynamics of biological invasions.
Highlights
Since early inhistory, mankind has translocated species (Wilson et al 2009; Jones et al 2013), but the recent globalization has led to an unprecedented increase in deliberate or unintended introductions of alien species into new areas, often with devastating effects for biodiversity, agriculture and ecosystem services (Simberloff et al 2013)
Analyses of the spatial distribution of genetic diversity could be helpful in such cases, as different introduction scenarios can be expected to leave markedly different patterns
Occurrence of the species is currently reported from Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, the Benelux states, Germany, Czech, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, Poland, Bulgaria, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland on the website of the Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe (DAISIE) website, a web portal on invasive species in Europe supported by the European Commission
Summary
Since early in (pre)history, mankind has translocated species (Wilson et al 2009; Jones et al 2013), but the recent globalization has led to an unprecedented increase in deliberate or unintended introductions of alien species into new areas, often with devastating effects for biodiversity, agriculture and ecosystem services (Simberloff et al 2013). For relatively slowly evolving markers like nuclear or mitochondrial DNA haplotypes, such expectations concerning the level of genetic diversity and their spatial distribution for different introduction and subsequent dispersal scenarios can be formulated and tested. One such example is the case of the nominal Lusitanian slug Arion lusitanicus Mabille 1868. If an invasive Arion species was introduced to Central Europe from an area of origin in Southern England, Western France and Northern Spain since the 1950s, we may formulate some hypotheses on its genetic structure in the invasion area. We analysed the population genetic structure of the presumed invasive taxon and modelled its climatic niche to test the predictions outlined previously
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