Phylogeographic pattern of Liza affinis populations in Chinese coastal waters: estimation of larval dispersal potential

Abstract

To examine phylogeographic pattern of Liza affinis populations in Chinese coastal waters, eight geographic populations were collected and analyzed using sequence analysis based on the first hypervariable region of mitochondrial control region. A total of 117 haplotypes from eight populations were obtained from 223 individuals and 22 of them were shared among different populations. High values of haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity were observed for eight populations. The topology of the NJ tree was shallow, and there were no significant genealogical branches or clusters corresponding to sampling localities. The values of pairwise Fst ranged from −0.009 to 0.171 and most of them were not statistically significant after sequential Bonferroni correction. The results of LAMARC also indicated no significant population genetic structure in L. affinis along the Chinese coast. The demographic history of Liza affinis examined by neutrality tests and mismatch distribution analysis suggested a population expansion event dating back to late Pleistocene. The potential larval dispersal ability coupled with the present ocean currents and the late Pleistocene environment should be responsible for the present phylogeographic pattern of Liza affinis.