Population structure in the freshwater shrimp (Paratya australiensis) inferred from allozymes and mitochondrial DNA

In 1995, an allozyme study was conducted on the genetic structure of a population of the common atyid shrimp, Paratya australiensis, in the Conondale Range, south-eastern Queensland with two subcatchments each within two river drainages sampled. The allozyme study revealed a high degree of population structure, with the data interpreted as reflecting a pattern of restricted contemporary gene flow, primarily between streams within subcatchments. High levels of differentiation occurred between all subcatchments. In this study, we analysed a partial fragment of the mitochondrial COI gene in order to further test and verify these results. The mtDNA data largely conflicted with the hypothesis of restricted gene flow indicating that contemporary dispersal was highly unlikely, even between streams within subcatchments, with many sites fixed for unique mtDNA haplotypes. Additionally, the level of divergence between the Stony Creek subcatchment and all other sampling sites indicated that it had been isolated for approximately 2–3 million years, while low levels of divergence were detected across the Conondale Range between the Kilcoy and Booloumba Creek subcatchments. The sharing of alleles at certain allozyme loci between all subcatchments is, therefore, likely to be the result of ancestral retention and possibly because of the effects of balancing selection.