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Genetic Structure of a Native Neotropical Fish Species: New Insights about a South American Bioindicator

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Abstract

The biodiversity of Neotropical region is affected by anthropogenic disturbance. Throughout Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, the native fish, Cnesterodon decemmaculatus, is well distributed and widely used as an excellent bioindicator of environmental quality. We investigated the diversity and genetic structure of its populations along a water pollution gradient to answer the following questions: 1- Does the genetic diversity decrease under the stressful conditions of a severe water quality gradient? and 2- Is there any relationship between the haplotypes registered along the studied basin and those recorded in other distant basins? Two mitochondrial DNA markers, Cytochrome b and D-loop, were analyzed and four haplotypes were registered for both markers along the basin. H1 was present throughout all the river sections in high frequencies leading to a low genetic diversity. We suggest that only a few haplotypes tolerate the stressful conditions of mountain rivers. On the other hand, the presence of H4 at the site located downstream suggests a history of recent colonization from the southeast to the northwest of the biome. These results, together with the abundance decrease along the pollution gradient, and the non-migratory characteristic of C. decemmaculatus suggest that its populations may be at risk of local extinction.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Manuel F. Sosa, scientific illustrator (IDEA CONICET UNC), for producing C. decemmaculatus in Fig. 1 and Graphical Abstract. The manuscript was improved by the helpful comments from anonymous referees.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from National Research Council (CONICET, PIP 112-201101-01084) and the Secretariat of Science and Technology of the National University of Córdoba (SECyT, 2014–2015.Res no: 203/14).

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Rautenberg, G.E., Bonifacio, A.F., Chiappero, M.B. et al. Genetic Structure of a Native Neotropical Fish Species: New Insights about a South American Bioindicator. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 83, 168–179 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-022-00952-5

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