Postglacial Dispersal Research Articles

Transferrin variation in the longnose sucker, Catostomus catostomus, from the Yukon and Mackenzie Rivers

Transferrin variation is described in longnose sucker Catostomus catostomus from the Yukon and Mackenzie Rivers. A total of six allelic variants were scored, one of which was not observed within the Yukon sample. Significant heterogeneity of allele frequency was observed. The data suggest that the two populations derive from suckers inhabiting the Beringian and Mississippian refugia during the Pleistocene glacial periods. Transferrin may be useful for delineating postglacial dispersal patterns of the longnose sucker in northwest North America.

The Role of Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata L.) in the Postglacial Dispersal of Fagaceous Trees in Eastern North America

The heavy nuts of fagaceous trees (Quercus, Fagus and Castanea. Blue jays would have fostered both Fagus, Castanea) have led biogeographers to consider them range extension and, together with mammals, the build-up archetypal K-selected species with low mobility. Recent of populations by continually moving seeds to favourable studies of the role of blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata L.) in locales. dispersing and caching nuts have changed this perception. The finding that the propagules of fagaceous trees are The known dispersal distance for fagaceous nuts in eastern highly mobile shows that a necessary condition is fulfilled North America has been increased by an order-of-magnifor Holocene vegetation to have been in dynamic equitude, from several hundred metres to several kilometres. librium with climate for time scales of 1000 years or longer. Moreover, blue jays cache viable nuts in the ground in The mobility of fagaceous seeds also improves the future many habitats favourable for recruitment. chances of survival for these trees in the face of deforestaThe blue jay-nut dispersal mechanism helps to explain tion (habitat fragmentation) and a carbon dioxide-induced how Quercus spread northward as the climate warmed durclimate change. ing postglacial times at rates as rapid as those of light, winddispersed trees. The presence of blue jays also makes it

Distribution and post-glacial dispersal of freshwater fishes in South Westland, New Zealand

Abstract Sixteen native and two introduced species of fishes were recorded in a survey of South Westland fresh waters. All of the native species are diadromous, except for the brown mudfish (Neochanna apoda), which was recorded only north ofWaiho River. The number of fish species recorded in South Westland was lower than the number known from the Buller River catchment or North Westland, but greater than in western Fiordland. It is suggested that during the Otiran glaciation, freshwater fishes on the west coast of the South Island were restricted to the Buller River catchment and parts of North Westland. Diadromous fishes have recolonised South Westland readily from those northern refugia, but non-diadromous fishes appear to have been reinvading the area more slowly. N. apoda has adaptations which have allowed it to recolonise more rapidly than most non-diadromous species.

Genetic Variation and Postglacial Dispersal of Populations of Northern Pike (Esox lucius) in North America

We studied the genetic relationships and postglacial dispersal of northern pike (Esox lucius) populations in North America using allozyme data. Allelic products of up to 65 protein coding loci were examined in eight populations: five from drainages in western Canada, flowing into Hudson Bay and the Beaufort Sea; two from the Missouri River drainage, flowing into the Mississippi River; and one from the upper Mississippi River drainage, flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. Only two polymorphic loci were identified, Est-1 and Ck-1, and the average observed heterozygosity was only 0.001, much lower than that observed in most teleosts. All of the populations from the drainages in western Canada and the Missouri River were genetically identical. The Mississippi River population was unique, expressing Ck-1 (140), an allele nearly absent in all other populations, at a frequency of 0.99. Our data suggest that the Missouri River drainage, during the period when it was isolated from the Mississippi River, was the southern refugium from which northern pike radiated during deglaciation.

Reconstructing Biogeographic History Using Phylogenetic-tree Analysis of Community Structure

The dispersal of a community in a territory can be reconstructed using various more or less specific methods of data analysis. When the data are in the form of presence/ absence of species for the various units of territory, or in the form of frequencies of occurrence, they are analogous to the data used for reconstructing evolutionary trees. Furthermore, when one is looking for a treelike structure of dispersal, issued from a common trunk, the tree- reconstruction methods may represent an appropriate analytical tool. Four tree-reconstruction methods are found to be appropriate in their hypotheses. They lead to satisfactory trees when applied to a data set describing the geographic distribution of the stenohaline freshwater fishes of the Quebec peninsula, previously divided into 21 regions. For binary data, the method of Camin and Sokal and the polymorphism parsimony method were used with success, while the continuous character data maximum-likelihood method and the least-squares method of Cavalli- Sforza and Edwards were applied to frequency-of-occurrence data. When compared to a method of pairwise comparison of adjacent regions, it is shown that the tree-reconstruction methods provide the user with information that is not found otherwise. I also show that external infor- mation (i.e., geographic adjacencies, and the degree of asymmetry of the faunal vectors of regions connected by the tree), available in biogeographic data but not taken into account by the tree-reconstruction algorithms, must be considered to render the results meaningful. (Bio- geography; cladistic methods; freshwater fishes; methods of phylogenetic inference; postglacial dispersal; tree-reconstruction methods.) Biogeographic reconstruction of the dis- persal of a community through a territory can be studied by several methods, whose interest and complexity grow as more as-

Distribution and postglacial dispersal of freshwater fishes of Labrador

The voluminous literature on the freshwater and diadromous fishes of Labrador is summarized in distributional maps. A total of 25 obligate freshwater spawning and one catadromous species has been reported. Fishes from Atlantic and Mississippi refugia probably invaded the region from the Great Lakes basin primarily via glacial Lake Barlow-Ojibway, crossing Quebec north of the Otish Mountain to the headwaters of the Churchill River system. Additional dispersal routes existed to the north and south. Euryhaline species from an Atlantic refugium first invaded coastal regions during postglacial depression and marine inundation. Remnants of these occur as landlocked populations. Labrador is divided into three major ichthyogeographic regions based on species distributions and dispersal opportunities. The Churchill River forms one region and is divided into three subregions. Upstream of Churchill Falls there is only one species, which dispersed across Quebec. Downstream areas, including accessible tributaries, have all of the common fishes present in Labrador. Less accessible watersheds south of Churchill River form the third subregion and are limited to fishes with better swimming abilities. The second major region is southeastern Labrador which has euryhaline fishes from Atlantic refugia and three species from Quebec. The third major region is loosely defined as northern Labrador (> 55°N) although it is one of decreasing numbers of species with increasing latitude.

A Study of the Distribution of Freshwater Mussels (Mollusca: Pelecypoda: Unionoida) of the Lake Champlain Drainage in Northwestern New England

Lake Champlain occupies a large shallow basin in northeastern North America and drains to the St. Lawrence River. The freshwater mussel fauna of the lake's drainage system includes both Northern Atlantic and Interior Basin species. An analysis of the distribution of the mussel species in the eastern and southern drainage streams of Lake Champlain reveals that fall lines have controlled upstream migration at various stages during the lake's postglacial history. Species composition differs above and below fall lines within drainage streams and varies geographically between drainage streams. Such distribution patterns may be explained by proposed periodic invasions of Lake Champlain by species during specific postglacial lake stages. simple species lists, with little emphasis being placed on details of distribution of species and how the geography and geology of the region have controlled the dispersal of spe- cies recolonizing Lake Champlain during late Pleistocene and early Holocene times. The present study provides a detailed account of the distribution of the freshwater mussels in the eastern Lake Champlain watershed in northwestern New England. Us- ing extant museum records and data gathered during my own field investigations, and available information on the structural and surface geology of the Champlain lowland and western New England, a history of late and postglacial dispersal of mussels into Lake Champlain is developed. The previous literature on Lake Champlain unionoids is very limited. Concerning the New England sector, Adams (1841, 1853) presented brief lists which provided enough information to firmly document the extension of ranges of several Interior Ba- sin species into Lake Champlain. Adams' observations were repeated in subsequent fau- nal lists (e.g., Stimpson, 1851; Johnson, 1915; Johnson, 1980). Gray (1883) gave Lake Champlain drainages in Vermont as the eastern range limit of Lasmigona compressa. Re- cently, Clarke (1981) listed a few records of Alasmidonta undulata from the Lake Cham- plain drainage in Vermont. Similarly, the portion of Lake Champlain in New York has been little studied with respect to unionoid mussels. Lea (1834) first described Symphynota benedictensis ( =Ano- donta grandis) from near Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. Dekay (1943) later listed a few Lake Champlain records for unionoids, and some time after, Marshall (1895) listed the known distribution of unionoids in Lake Champlain based on New York State Mu- seum records. Finally, Letson (1905) presented a list of New York unionoid mussels that included all known Lake Champlain records. More recently Clarke and Berg (1959) cited the first record of Anodontoides ferussacianus from Lake Champlain, and Smith (1982) provided records for A. ferussacianus and other species in a few of the uppermost Lake Champlain drainage streams. No reports exist of the mussel fauna in the small portion of the Lake Champlain drainage in Canada.

Postglacial Dispersal of Freshwater Fishes in the Québec Peninsula

The possible postglacial dispersal of freshwater fishes in the Québec peninsula is described. We tested the hypothesis that fish dispersal was controlled more efficiently by movements of the earth crust and by morphological peculiarities of the peninsula than by upland divides presently found between river basins. Based on the actual distributions of 109 species of freshwater fishes, the presence and absence of these species was noted for each of 289 one-degree-square pixels of the peninsula. A geographical intermediate-linkage clustering was run with a spatial constraint, that is, only neighbouring pixels were allowed to cluster. Five main ichthyogeographic regions and 21 subregions were thus defined. The regional limits seem to be highly correlated with climatic, vegetational, and geomorphological limits or gradients. Knowing the fish species present in each subregion made it possible to deduce their pattern of postglacial dispersal, after computing a coefficient of dispersal direction between neighbouring subregions. The pattern of fish dispersal so derived assumes that the stenohaline species have crossed the centre of the peninsula. This can be explained by the isobasic movements since the end of the Wisconsin Ice Age, and also by a network of river headwater interconnections still extant today.

The brown lemming, Lemmus sibiricus (Rodentia, Arvicolidae), in the late Pleistocene of Alberta and its postglacial dispersal.

The first fossil remains of Lemmus sibiricus south of Beringia are reported from a rock shelter called January Cave in the Front Ranges of the Rocky Mountains, southwestern Alberta, Canada. The 45 specimens were excavated along with several thousands of isolated small mammal teeth and fragmentary bones. Dated by both radiocarbon and thermoluminescence methods to span the last 22 000 – 23 000 years, a late Pleistocene-through-present sequence is provided. Argument is made for the existence of a southern relict population of this lemming prior to a northward, postglacial dispersal into British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.

Stygobromus canadensis, a new subterranean amphipod crustacean (Crangonyctidae) from Canada, with remarks on Wisconsin refugia

Stygobromus canadensis, new species, is described from Castleguard Cave, a large alpine cave located in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta. This is the first subterranean amphipod crustacean reported from Canada and the ninth member of the genus found north of the southern limits of Pleistocene glaciation. Considering the evidence against postglacial dispersal (e.g., endemicity and lack of close affinity with species living farther south), and the presence of a subterranean isopod in the same cave, it is hypothesized that these small aquatic crustaceans survived the Wisconsin glaciers in deep, groundwater refugia under the ice. There is some evidence to suggest that Castleguard Cave, itself, could have served as such a refugium.

A Biochemical Genetic Study of Zoogeography of Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) in Western Canada

Frequencies of alleles of the genes governing electrophoretic phenotypes of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) muscle glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-3-PDH) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzymes, the genetics of which were determined previously, proved useful tools for characterizing populations. Malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and hemoglobin electrophoretic phenotypes, the genetics of which have not been determined, proved useful only for discerning differences among large groups of populations. Using all these characters we determined postglacial routes of gene flow among western Canadian lake whitefish populations and related the biochemical data to the glacial refugia in which lake whitefish are believed to have survived the Wisconsin glaciation. Apparently most lake whitefish populations west of the Ontario–Manitoba boundary and east of the Rocky Mountains were derived from a Mississippi refugium stock with some input from the Bering refugium. At an early stage in the mixing of the two stocks, headwaters of the Peace, Athabasca, and Mackenzie rivers and the Fraser River system were invaded. Subsequently, these areas were cut off from mainstem rivers of the plains, and a G-3-PDH allele not found in early emigrants from the Mississippi refugium appeared and spread throughout the major river systems of central Canada. No evidence was found that any Mississippi stock lake whitefish were able to invade the upper Liard River and Yukon River system including the area of the Bering refugium. Bering stock lake whitefish probably emigrated from that refugium by way of headwater transfer from the Yukon River to the Liard River and possibly, by way of the Porcupine and Peel rivers, from the Yukon River to the lower Mackenzie River. Routes of postglacial dispersal suggested by geological information, rather than selection, appear to provide adequate explanations for the distributions of the biochemical characters in present day lake whitefish populations. This explanation of the biochemical data is also in accord with the distribution of modal gillraker counts in lake whitefish populations and also with the distribution of other freshwater fishes in western Canada. Key words: fish, lake whitefish, Coregonus clupeaformis, salmonidae, zoogeography, dehydrogenase, postglacial, biochemical genetics

Fish distribution in Gatineau Park, Quebec, in relation to postglacial dispersal, man's influence, and eutrophication

Fish distribution in Gatineau Park, Quebec, in relation to postglacial dispersal, man's influence, and eutrophication

Postglacial Dispersal of Four Deepwater Fishes on the Basis of New Distribution Records in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec

Occurrences in 130 new localities in eastern Ontario and western Quebec are given for the fishes Cottus ricei, Myoxocephalus quadricornis, Pungitius pungitius, and Percopsis omiscomaycus. A total of 189 localities for these fishes is now known within this area. The distributions of these species are closely associated with the maximum extent of the large, interconnected, Wisconsin glacial lakes, their outlet channels, and areas inundated by postglacial marine waters. Although all four fishes dispersed primarily by means of the proglacial waters between 17,000 and 6000 years ago, C. ricei, P. pungitius, and Percopsis omiscomaycus have dispersed short distances beyond the glacial lake–marine boundaries and are probably still dispersing as drainage systems adjust themselves to postglacial rebound. Dispersal was probably north and eastward from a Mississippian refugium.

The relation of social evolution and dispersal in ungulates during the Pleistocene, with emphasis on the old world deer and the genus Bison

The evolution of Pleistocene mammals is characterized by giantism and in the ungulates by the appearance of huge and often bizarre horns, antlers, ossicones, and tusks. An earlier study of sheep (Ovis) led to a theory explaining these phenomena. This theory, termed the “dispersal theory,” is described briefly and then applied to the evolution of Old World deer (Cervinea, Baird, 1857). It is shown that the zoogeography and physical characteristics of Old World deer follow the predictions of this theory. Attention is drawn to the parallels in zoogeography and convergent evolutionary changes between Old World deer and other ungulates such as New World deer, the goats and sheep and the genus Bison. The application of the “dispersal theory” to the evolution of the genus Bison shows that it is compatible with known facts and that it explains aspects of Bison morphology not usually considered. It also suggested a new and testable hypothesis of the origin of present-day Bison. In general the “dispersal theory” applied to Pleistocene conditions predicts that a specialization of social behavior and social organs leading to giantism, altered body proportions and bizarre hornlike organs occurs during postglacial dispersal into new habitat. It also describes the characteristics of these early, pioneering populations. In so doing it links the disciplines of animal behavior, ecology, animal science, population dynamics, and zoogeography into a functional whole. In particular it shows the relationship between ecology and social behavior. Finally, the “dispersal theory” is shown to be a general theory, applicable to Pleistocene and pre-Pleistocene conditions. In the tropics or pre-Pleistocene conditions social evolution follows ecological specialization, while in the periglacial zones social evolution only reflects the colonization history of the species. It is shown that the “dispersal theory” unites the apparently contradictory views on evolution and zoogeography of Matthews and Darlington. Matthews' views apply largely to Pleistocene conditions and Darlington's to pre-Pleistocene conditions. A preliminary application of the “dispersal theory” to pre-Pleistocene mammals suggests that it predicts correctly.

Distributional List of Fishes in the Missouri Drainage of Canada

The presence of possible migration routes between the Missouri (Gulf of Mexico) and adjacent Saskatchewan (Hudson Bay) drainages is briefly discussed in regard to postglacial dispersal of freshwater fishes. A checklist of 9 families and 27 species of fish recorded from the Milk and Frenchman rivers of Alberta and Saskatchewan is provided. Two of these are new to the Missouri ichthyofauna of Canada and definite records of 10 species are reported for the first time from the Missouri drainage of Saskatchewan. Notes are included on the distribution of all known species within the Missouri drainage of Canada. The possible presence of three additional species is discussed.

The Barren Ground Grizzly Bear in Northern Canada

Discusses distribution of the bears, and takes exception to certain statements of A.W.F. Banfield (No. 56712). His thesis of a recent eastward range extension as a continuation of the species' postglacial dispersal from Beringia is rejected. The range of the species is considered to have changed many times since the end of the Wisconsin glaciation; recent increase of bears in the east is probably a minor range fluctuation. Occurrence of grizzlies in northern Quebec - Labrador is not to be discounted, as Banfield does: several records of bears seen near the eastern end of the range since 1948 are cited.

Postglacial Dispersal of the Western Chorus Frog in Eastern Canada

Postglacial Dispersal of the Western Chorus Frog in Eastern Canada

Pollen Profiles from Prince William Sound and Southeastern Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

Two earlier papers discussed the pollen and peat stratigraphy of southeastern Alaska muskegs and its relation to postglacial phytogeography, climate, glacier variation, land-sea level fluctuation, and vulcanism (Heusser 1952, 1954). In an effort to extend these studies to the northwest along the border of the Gulf of Alaska, five peat sections were taken from muskegs in coastal southern Alaska, on southeastern Kenai Peninsula, and on eastern Prince William Sound. The localities at which muskegs have been sampled are shown by number on the accompanying sketch map (Fig. 1). One of the objectives of this paper is to trace the postglacial dispersal of the trees of the Coast Forest Formation in this district. Furthermore, since the district is at present part of an ecotone or transition between tundra and the coast forest (Cooper 1942), another objective is to show the postglacial relation of these two formations. The study region is also of interest in that it represents the northern terminus for two members of the coast forest. Western hemlock (Tsuga heteroPhvllal), which comprises almost 75 per cent of this forest in the Alexander Archipelago (Taylor 1932), 500 to 800 rniles southeastward, and Alaska yellow cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) extend as far as western Prince Williamn Sound. Recent palynological investigations by Livingstone (1953), Hansen (1953), and the Alaska Terrain and Permafrost Section of the U. S. Geological Survey (William S. Benninghoff, personal communication) and those made earlier by Bowman (1934) and Knox (Judson 1946) are gradually unfolding the postglacial and earlier Pleistocene events in the Territory. Geologists, in addition, are making a concerted effort to map the Pleistocene glaciations and construct a chronology (Pewe, et al. 1953). It is the purpose of this paper to add to this evolving store of information and at the same time to augment our knowledge of the postglacial development of the Coast Forest Formation as we know it today. Field work connected with this study was supported by a Sigma Xi-Resa Grant-in-Aid and a grant from the Glacier Study Project of the American Geographical Society. Travel to the Territory was afforded by the Juneau Ice Field ResearclhL Project which is administered by the 'Nomenclature follows Hulten (1941-1950) ; in some cases plant names given in references cited in the text have been changed to follow Hulte'n.