Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Genetic diversity and population structure of the northern snakehead (Channa argus Channidae: Teleostei) in central China: implications for conservation and management

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Conservation Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Major threats to freshwater fish diversity now include loss of native genetic diversity as a consequence of translocations of fishes between sites and from hatcheries to sites, and small effective population sizes resulting from overfishing and/or habitat loss. Ten polymorphic microsatellite markers were employed to evaluate genetic diversity, population genetic structure and gene flow amongst nine populations of the ecologically and economically important fish, the northern snakehead (Channa argus), in three river systems in central China. Multiple analyses revealed evidence of high genetic diversity and pronounced subdivision based on both regional separation and on river systems. A lack of evidence of genetic bottleneck over recent generations was consistent with the long-term stability of population size and contemporary distribution. The effective population sizes for most C. argus populations were small, suggesting the need for future conservation efforts focusing on these populations. Different lines of evidence point to the local enhancement of stocks by both aquaculture-reared fish and the transfer of wild fish. This study illustrates how human activities may affect genetic diversity and population genetic structure of C. argus populations, and highlights the need for new management regimes to protect native freshwater fish genetic diversity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abraham RK, Kelkar N (2012) Do terrestrial protected areas conserve freshwater fish diversity? Results from the Western Ghats of India. Oryx 46:544–553

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antao T, Lopes A, Lopes RJ, Beja-Pereira A, Luikart G (2008) LOSITAN: a workbench to detect molecular adaptation based on a Fst-outlier method. BMC Bioinform 9:323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Araki H, Schmid C (2010) Is hatchery stocking a help or harm?: evidence, limitations and future directions in ecological and genetic surveys. Aquaculture 308:S2–S11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benjamini Y, Hochberg Y (1995) Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. J R Stat Soc B 57:289–300

    Google Scholar 

  • Bogutskaya NG, Naseka AM (2002) An overview of nonindigenous fishes in inland waters of Russia. Proc Zool Inst Rus Acad Sci 296:21–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Bondad-Reantaso MG (2007) Assessment of freshwater fish seed resources for sustainable aquaculture. FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Bromaghin JF (2008) BELS: backward elimination locus selection for studies of mixture composition or individual assignment. Mol Ecol Resour 8:568–571

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chen MM, Zheng Y, Hao YJ, Mei ZG, Wang KX, Zhao QZ, Zheng JS, Wang D (2016) Parentage-based group composition and dispersal pattern studies of the Yangtze finless porpoise population in Poyang lake. Int J Mol Sci 17:1268

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Chessman BC (2013) Do protected areas benefit freshwater species? A broad-scale assessment for fish in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin. J Appl Ecol 50:969–976

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Courtenay WR, Williams JD (2004) Snakeheads (Pisces, Channidae): a biological synopsis and risk assessment. Department of Interior, United States Geological Survey, Reston

    Google Scholar 

  • Do C, Waples RS, Peel D, Macbeth GM, Tillett BJ, Ovenden JR (2014) NeEstimator v2: re-implementation of software for the estimation of contemporary effective population size (Ne) from genetic data. Mol Ecol Resour 14:209–214

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dong XP, Mu SM, Zhou N, Kang XJ, Luo Q, Bai JJ (2014) Structure analysis of mtDNA D-loop region and the genetic diversity of Channa argus in different populations. J Fish China 38:1277–1285 (in Chinese with English abstract: available at—http://www.fisheryjournal.com/abstract.htm?aid=OJ150320001416SoUrXu)

  • Dudgeon D, Arthington AH, Gessner MO, Kawabata ZI, Knowler DJ, Lévêque C, Naiman RJ, Prieur-Richard AH, Soto D, Stiassny MLJ, Sullivan CA (2006) Freshwater biodiversity: importance, threats, status and conservation challenges. Biol Rev 81:163–182

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dupanloup I, Schneider S, Excoffier L (2002) A simulated annealing approach to define the genetic structure of populations. Mol Ecol 11:2571–2581

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Earl DA, vonHoldt BM (2012) Structure harvester: a website and program for visualizing STRUCTURE output and implementing the Evanno method. Conserv Genet Resour 4:359–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evanno G, Regnaut S, Goudet J (2005) Detecting the number of clusters of individuals using the software structure: a simulation study. Mol Ecol 14:2611–2620

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Excoffier L, Lischer HEL (2010) Arlequin suite ver 3.5: a new series of programs to perform population genetics analyses under Linux and Windows. Mol Ecol Resour 10:564–567

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Faubet P, Waples RS, Gaggiotti OE (2007) Evaluating the performance of a multilocus Bayesian method for the estimation of migration rates. Mol Ecol 16:1149–1166

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fisheries Bureau of China’s Ministry of Agriculture (2015) China fishery year books. China Agriculture Press, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Gagnaire PA, Broquet T, Aurelle D, Viard F, Souissi A, Bonhomme F, Arnaud-Haond S, Bierne N (2015) Using neutral, selected, and hitchhiker loci to assess connectivity of marine populations in the genomic era. Evol Appl 8:769–786

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gao XY, Starmer JD (2008) AWclust: point-and-click software for non-parametric population structure analysis. BMC Bioinform 9:77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo XZ, Zhang GR, Wei KJ, Yan RJ, Ji W, Yang RB, Wei QW, Gardner JPA (2016) Phylogeography and population genetics of Schizothorax o’connori: strong subdivision in the Yarlung Tsangpo river inferred from mtDNA and microsatellite markers. Sci Rep 6:29821

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Herborg LM, Mandrak NE, Cudmore BC, MacIsaac HJ (2007) Comparative distribution and invasion risk of snakehead (Channidae) and Asian carp (Cyprinidae) species in North America. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 64:1723–1735

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ji W, Zhang GR, Ran W, Gardner JPA, Wei KJ, Wang WM, Zou GW (2014) Genetic diversity of and differentiation among five populations of blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala) revealed by SRAP markers: implications for conservation and management. PLoS One 9:e108967

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Jombart T (2008) adegenet: a R package for the multivariate analysis of genetic markers. Bioinformatics 24:1403–1405

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jombart T, Devillard S, Balloux F (2010) Discriminant analysis of principal components: a new method for the analysis of genetically structured populations. BMC Genet 11:94

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kalinowski ST, Taper ML, Marshall TC (2007) Revising how the computer program CERVUS accommodates genotyping error increases success in paternity assignment. Mol Ecol 16:1099–1106

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kang B, Deng JM, Wu YF, Chen LQ, Zhang J, Qiu HY, Lu Y, He DM (2014) Mapping China’s freshwater fishes: diversity and biogeography. Fish Fish 15:209–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kopelman NM, Mayzel J, Jakobsson M, Rosenberg NA, Mayrose I (2015) Clumpak: a program for identifying clustering modes and packaging population structure inferences across K. Mol Ecol Resour 15:1179–1191

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lapointe NWR, Odenkirk JS, Angermeier PL (2013) Seasonal movement, dispersal, and home range of Northern Snakehead Channa argus (Actinopterygii, Perciformes) in the Potomac river catchment. Hydrobiologia 709:73–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence DJ, Larson ER, Liermann CAR, Mims MC, Pool TK, Olden JD (2011) National parks as protected areas for US freshwater fish diversity. Conserv Lett 4:364–371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y, Abbas K, Ma XF, Wang WM (2009) Isolation and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite loci from Yellowcheek (Elopichthys bambusa). Conserv Genet 10:1811

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liao XL, Yu XM, Tong JG (2006) Genetic diversity of common carp from two largest Chinese lakes and the Yangtze River revealed by microsatellite markers. Hydrobiologia 568:445–453

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Zhu XP, Chen KC, Zhao J, Pan DB, Li KB (2011) Morphological variations of Channa maculata, Channa argus and their hybrid (C. maculate ♀ × C. argus ♂). J Huazhong Agricult Univ 30:488–493

    Google Scholar 

  • Magurran AE (2009) Threats to freshwater fish. Science 325:1215–1216

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Manni F, Guérard E, Heyer E (2004) Geographic patterns of (genetic, morphologic, linguistic) variation: how barriers can be detected by using “Monmonier’s algorithm”. Hum Biol 76:173–190

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McCusker MR, Bentzen P (2010) Positive relationships between genetic diversity and abundance in fishes. Mol Ecol 19:4852–4862

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller MP (2005) Alleles In Space (AIS): computer software for the joint analysis of interindividual spatial and genetic information. J Hered 96:722–724

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muhlfeld CC, Kalinowski ST, McMahon TE, Taper ML, Painter S, Leary RF, Allendorf FW (2009) Hybridization rapidly reduces fitness of a native trout in the wild. Biol Lett 5:328–331

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Nei M, Tajima F, Tateno Y (1983) Accuracy of estimated phylogenetic trees from molecular data. J Mol Evol 19:153–170

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nevill J (2006) Freshwater protected areas in Australia. OnlyOnePlanet Consulting. http://155.187.2.69/soe/2006/publications/emerging/freshwater/pubs/freshwater.pdf. Accessed 28 June 2017

  • Odenkirk J, Owens S (2005) Northern snakeheads in the tidal Potomac River system. Trans Am Fish Soc 134:1605–1609

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orrell TM, Weigt L (2005) The Northern Snakehead Channa argus (Anabantomorpha: Channidae), a non-indigenous fish species in the Potomac River, USA. Proc Biol Soc Wash 118:407–415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peakall R, Smouse PE (2012) GenAlEx 6.5: genetic analysis in Excel. Population genetic software for teaching and research—an update. Bioinformatics 28:2537–2539

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Piry S, Luikart G, Cornuet JM (1999) Bottleneck: a program for detecting recent effective population size reductions from allele data frequencies. J Hered 90:502–503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piry S, Alapetite A, Cornuet JM, Paetkau D, Baudouin L, Estoup A (2004) GeneClass2: a software for genetic assignment and first-generation migrant detection. J Hered 95:536–539

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pritchard JK, Stephens M, Donnelly P (2000) Inference of population structure using multilocus genotype data. Genetics 155:945–959

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Puechmaille SJ (2016) The program structure does not reliably recover the correct population structure when sampling is uneven: subsampling and new estimators alleviate the problem. Mol Ecol Resour 16:608–627

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2017) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R foundation for statistical computing, Vienna. http://www.R-project.org/

  • Rousset F (2008) Genepop’007: a complete re-implementation of the GENEPOP software for Windows and Linux. Mol Ecol Resour 8:103–106

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Takezaki N, Nei M, Tamura K (2009) Poptree2: software for constructing population trees from allele frequency data and computing other population statistics with Windows interface. Mol Biol Evol 27:747–752

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • van Oosterhout C, Hutchinson WF, Wills DPM, Shipley P (2004) Micro-checker: software for identifying and correcting genotyping errors in microsatellite data. Mol Ecol Notes 4:535–538

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang CY, Yu XM, Tong JG (2007) Microsatellite diversity and population genetic structure of redfin culter (Culter erythropterus) in fragmented lakes of the Yangtze River. Hydrobiologia 586:321–329

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Waples RS, Do C (2010) Linkage disequilibrium estimates of contemporary Ne using highly variable genetic markers: a largely untapped resource for applied conservation and evolution. Evol Appl 3:244–262

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wei K, Wood AR, Gardner JPA (2013) Population genetic variation in the New Zealand greenshell mussel: locus-dependent conflicting signals of weak structure and high gene flow balanced against pronounced structure and high self-recruitment. Mar Biol 160:931–949

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson GA, Rannala B (2003) Bayesian inference of recent migration rates using multilocus genotypes. Genetics 163:1177–1191

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Xiao MS, Cui F, Kang J, Zhang XH (2013) Genetic structure and variation of wild Ophicephalus argus cantor from Huaihe River based on MtDNA D-loop sequences. J Huazhong Normal Univ (Nat Sci) 47:82–90

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yan RJ, Wei KJ, Guo XZ, Zhang GR, Gardner JPA, Yang RB, Chen KC (2014) Isolation and characterization of nineteen novel polymorphic microsatellite loci for the northern snakehead Channa argus. Conserv Genet Resour 6:621–623

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang DY (1986) The evolution of the Poyang Lake in Quaternary. Oceanol Limnol Sin 17:429–435

    Google Scholar 

  • Yeh FC, Yang RC, Boyle T, Ye Z (2000) Popgene 1.32: Population Genetic Analysis. Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Centre, University of Alberta, Canada

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang B, Li ZJ, Tong JG, Liao XL (2006) Isolation and characterization of 18 polymorphic microsatellite markers in Chinese mandarin fish Siniperca chuatsi (Basilewsky). Conserv Genet Resour 6:1216–1218

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou AG, Zhuo XL, Zou Q, Chen JT, Zou JX (2015) Population genetic diversity of the northern snakehead (Channa argus) in China based on the mitochondrial DNA control region and adjacent regions sequences. Mitochondr DNA 26:341–349

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhuo XL, Liang RS, Chen YF, Huang GJ, Yu DH, Zou JX (2012) Genetic characterization of northern snakehead (Channa argus) populations in China using microsatellite markers. Biochem Syst Ecol 43:25–31

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Tian-Xi Fu and Hai-Ping Chen for assistance with sample collection. This work was supported by the Scientific Research Foundation for the Introduction of High-level Talents, Huazhong Agricultural University (Grant No. 2012RC012) and by the National Key Technology R&D Program (Grant No. 2012BAD26B03).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Freshwater Animal Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Fisheries, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Ruo-Jin Yan, Gui-Rong Zhang, Xiang-Zhao Guo, Wei Ji, Kai-Jian Wei & Jonathan P. A. Gardner

  2. Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Guangzhou, 510380, People’s Republic of China

    Kun-Ci Chen

  3. Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuhan, 430223, People’s Republic of China

    Gui-Wei Zou

  4. School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, P. O. Box 600, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand

    Jonathan P. A. Gardner

Authors
  1. Ruo-Jin Yan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gui-Rong Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xiang-Zhao Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Wei Ji
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Kun-Ci Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Gui-Wei Zou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Kai-Jian Wei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Jonathan P. A. Gardner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kai-Jian Wei or Jonathan P. A. Gardner.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

No specific permits were required for the field studies described here. We confirm that the study locations were not privately owned or protected, and the field sampling activities did not involve endangered or protected species beyond the focal species. All animal research protocols were approved by the Animal Research Oversight Committee of Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU) and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of HZAU, the methods were carried out in accordance with the approved guidelines.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOC 82 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yan, RJ., Zhang, GR., Guo, XZ. et al. Genetic diversity and population structure of the northern snakehead (Channa argus Channidae: Teleostei) in central China: implications for conservation and management. Conserv Genet 19, 467–480 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-017-1023-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-017-1023-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation