Genetic Structure of Chorthippus parallelus (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Gomphocerinae) Populations in Anatolia: A Stable Rear Edge Population

Abstract

Anatolian populations inhabit the southern latitudinal margin of species distribution ranges and therefore may be considered as "rear edge" populations. The genetic structures of such populations have critical importance in species responses to climatic change and are essential for long-term conservation genetics. Here, the genetic structure of Chorthippus parallelus (Zetterstedt) (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Gomphocerinae) populations in one of the main southern glacial refugium is investigated. Ten populations of C. parallelus from Anatolia have been studied by investigating single-copy nuclear DNA (Cpnl-1) fragment using polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformational polymorphism methods. The level of allelic number was high (total of 20 alleles in the locus, of which 11 were unique), but the level of gene flow among populations seemed to be low (F-IS = 0.090). However, most populations were genetically diverse (H-E > 0.5, A = 6.211, and n(e) = 5.774). The level of genetic differentiation among populations was high (F-ST = 0.330). No statistically significant correlation between genetic diversity and spatial distribution was observed. The analysis of molecular variation analysis indicated that a large proportion of genetic variation was due to differentiation among individuals within populations. Genetic drift was a more likely cause of differentiation among populations rather than geographical distance. These results suggest that a presence of a "stable rear edge" population in contrary to the center-periphery model.