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Thesis (M.S.)--Humboldt State University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-50). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

Freshwater streams in the developed world are becoming increasingly dominated by treated wastewater. Continually discharged into most surface waters, these effluents contain a suite of bioactive man-made chemicals, including steroid and non-steroid oestrogens, which have been found to feminise male fish, skew sex ratios, and cause reproductive failure. However, the consequences of reproductive disruption remain poorly explored at the population level. This thesis was initiated to evaluate how oestrogenic contaminants might influence the population ecology of a common cyprinid, the roach (Rutilus rutilus). An investigation encompassing population structure, multigenerational exposure and the role of additional drivers of fish population dynamics was undertaken to contextualise the effects of oestrogenic effluents on wild fish populations. Population genetic analysis of UK roach found they exhibit moderately high levels of genetic diversity and significant intra-river genetic structure. Genetically differentiated local subpopulations indicate little interbreeding and limited gene flow, consistent with a typical metapopulation that has not been homogenised by restocking. Similarly, my thesis demonstrates no significant relationship between effluent exposure and Ne (effective population size) or genetic diversity of roach populations, albeit a 65% reduction in Ne is possible at highly polluted sites. River stretches contaminated with high levels of effluent can support breeding populations, which recruit successfully with minimal immigration from less contaminated sites. Multigenerational effects of effluent exposure on roach were also evaluated experimentally using reproductive success from breeding adults over three generations. Lifelong exposure to 100% treated effluent resulted in feminised phenotypes (ovarian cavities and intersex condition) in males but no observable effect on females. Additionally, despite gonadal disruption in males and effluent exposure of their mothers, I found no detrimental effect on their ability to compete with control fish. Instead, reproductive success was primarily determined by body size. A novel approach considering additional fish population drivers suggests that genetic diversity and species diversity decline in parallel with an increasing presence of disturbed land, when combined with geographical isolation. In conclusion, group assemblage and genetic structure of fish populations appears multi-causal and cannot be disaggregated, such that a single environmental characteristic can be shown to drive patterns of population success.

Face à l’effet des changements d’utilisations de sol sur la dispersion des espèces, des actions ont récemment été menées au niveau des régions françaises pour favoriser et maintenir la connectivité. L’objectif de cette étude a donc été de quantifier la connectivité chez une espèce modèle menacée en Europe occidentale : la vipère péliade (V. berus). Ses mœurs discrètes ont nécessité pour mesurer sa dispersion d’utiliser une approche indirecte basée sur l’individu et des outils moléculaire. Ainsi, les flux de gènes de V. berus ont été analysés à fine échelle spatiale (10 × 7 km²) sur un site d’étude (A0) constitué de deux secteurs paysagers contrastés (A1/A2), à la fois par l’utilisation des sols et leur stabilité temporelle (instable/stable). La différenciation génétique sur A0 est faible et surtout associée à un fort patron d’isolement par la distance (IBD). La dispersion est donc limitée spatialement chez V. berus (dispersion natale ≤ 500 m) et liée aux mâles à l’âge adulte. De plus, les flux de gènes sont aussi expliqués par l’hétérogénéité du paysage : (i) par les prairies (A0), l’urbanisation (A1) les pelouses et boisements (A2), (ii) particulièrement à 300 m autour des individus parmi les étendues spatiales testées (100-500 m) et (iii) plus par l’agencement spatial que le type et la quantité des taches d’habitats. Ces résultats innovants contribuent à (i) la réflexion sur la stratégie de conservation pour V. berus et (ii) souligner la diversité des facteurs à considérer dans l’étude et le maintien de la connectivité à une plus vaste échelle spatiale (patrons et processus de dispersion, échelles spatio-temporelles). / Face to the impact of land-use changes on species dispersal, decisions were recently conducted at French regional scale to favour and to maintain connectivity. The aim of this work was to quantified connectivity for a model species threatened in Western Europe : the common European adder (V. berus). Its secretive behaviour required to use an indirect and individual-based approach to measure its dispersal thanks to molecular techniques. Thus, V berus gene flow were analysed at fine spatial scale (10 × 7 km²) on a study site (A0) made up of two sub-areas with contrasting landscapes (A1/A2), both by land use and their temporal stability (instable/stable). Genetic differentiation on A0 is weak and mainly associated with a strong isolation-by-distance (IBD) pattern. Dispersal is therefore spatially limited in V. berus (natal dispersal ≤ 500m) and related to males concerning adults. Moreover, gene flow is also influenced by landscape heterogeneity : (i) by meadow (A0), urbanisation (A1) and dry grassland and forests (A2), (ii) particularly at 300m around individuals among spatial extent tested (10-500m) and (iii) more by the spatial configuration than the type and quantity of habitat patches. These innovative results contribute to (i) reflection about conservation strategies for V. Berus et (ii) underly the diversity of factors to consider in studying and maintaining connectivity at a more large spatial scale (dispersal pattern and process, spatio-temporal scales).

Statistical inference from molecular population genetic data is currently a very active area of research for two main reasons. First, in the past two decades an enormous amount of molecular genetic data have been produced and the amount of data is expected to grow even more in the future. Second, drawing inferences about complex population genetics problems, for example understanding the demographic and genetic factors that shaped modern populations, poses a serious statistical challenge. Amongst the many different kinds of genetic data that have appeared in the past two decades, the highly polymorphic microsatellites have played an important role. Microsatellites revolutionized the population genetics of natural populations, and were the initial tool for linkage mapping in humans and other model organisms. Despite their important role, and extensive use, the evolutionary dynamics of microsatellites are still not fully understood, and their statistical methods are often underdeveloped and do not adequately model microsatellite evolution. In this thesis, I address some aspects of this problem by assessing the performance of existing statistical tools, and developing some new ones. My work encompasses a range of statistical methods from simple hypothesis testing to more recent, complex computational statistical tools. This thesis consists of four main topics. First, I review the statistical methods that have been developed for microsatellites in population genetics applications. I review the different models of the microsatellite mutation process, and ask which models are the most supported by data, and how models were incorporated into statistical methods. I also present estimates of mutation parameters for several species based on published data. Second, I evaluate the performance of estimators of genetic relatedness using real data from five vertebrate populations. I demonstrate that the overall performance of marker-based pairwise relatedness estimators mainly depends on the population relatedness composition and may only be improved by the marker data quality within the limits of the population relatedness composition. Third, I investigate the different null hypotheses that may be used to test for independence between loci. Using simulations I show that testing for statistical independence (i.e. zero linkage disequilibrium, LD) is difficult to interpret in most cases, and instead a null hypothesis should be tested, which accounts for the “background LD” due to finite population size. I investigate the utility of a novel approximate testing procedure to circumvent this problem, and illustrate its use on a real data set from red deer. Fourth, I explore the utility of Approximate Bayesian Computation, inference based on summary statistics, to estimate demographic parameters from admixed populations. Assuming a simple demographic model, I show that the choice of summary statistics greatly influences the quality of the estimation, and that different parameters are better estimated with different summary statistics. Most importantly, I show how the estimation of most admixture parameters can be considerably improved via the use of linkage disequilibrium statistics from microsatellite data.

Le criocère du lis, Lilioceris lilii (Coleoptera : Chrysomelidae), un ravageur de lis et de fritillaires d’origine eurasienne, a été observé pour la première fois en Amérique du Nord en 1943 sur l’Ile de Montréal au Canada. Après y avoir été confiné pendant environ 25 années, ce coléoptère a par la suite progressé rapidement sur le territoire nord-américain. Actuellement, on l’observe dans huit provinces canadiennes et huit états américains. Cette étude a investigué les routes d’invasion utilisées par le criocère du lis au Canada et aux États- Unis avec l’aide de marqueurs génétiques AFLP. Pour ce faire, 516 individus parmi 34 sites en Amérique du Nord et en Europe ont été échantillonnés et analysés. Le premier objectif était de déterminer, en analysant la structure génétique des populations nord-américains, s’il y avait eu une ou plusieurs introductions en provenance d’Europe. Le deuxième objectif était d’identifier l’origine de la ou des populations introduites en Amérique du Nord. Finalement, le troisième objectif consistait à proposer un scénario d’invasion de L. lilii en Amérique du Nord basé sur les données de première mention et de structure génétique des populations échantillonnées. Les résultats démontrent une signature génétique distincte entre les criocères du lis du Canada et ceux des États-Unis, suggérant ainsi deux sources d’introductions indépendantes en Amérique du Nord, soit une première introduction à Montréal, Québec, dans les années 1940 et une seconde aux États-Unis au début des années 1990 à Cambridge, Massachusetts. De plus, les deux populations nord-américaines semblent provenir de différentes régions du nord de l’Europe, ce qui est conséquent avec le scénario suggérant deux sources d’introductions indépendantes. Chacune des populations aurait par la suite progressé respectivement dans leur pays d’introduction selon une dispersion de type stratifiée. En effet, la progression continue de L. lilii dans certaines régions suggère une dispersion naturelle de l’espèce sur le territoire nord-américain, alors que la progression rapide sur de longues distances semble être causée par le transport anthropique de lis contaminés. / The lily leaf beetle, Lilioceris lilii (Coleoptera : Chrysomelidae), a Eurasian pest of lilies and fritillaries, was first observed in North America in 1943 on the Island of Montréal, Canada. After being confined to Montréal for approximately 25 years, the beetle quickly progressed in North America, and is currently present in eight Canadian provinces and eight American states. During this study, we have investigated the routes of invasion followed by L. lilii in North America, using AFLP markers. We sampled and analysed 516 individuals from 34 sites across North America and Europe. Our first objective was to characterize the genetic structure of North American L. lilii populations to determine if they originated from a single or form multiple introductions from Europe. The second objective was to identify the geographical origin of the invasive population(s). Finally, the third objective was to trace back the geographical routes of invasion of L. lilii in North America, using information from both the dates of first observations and the genetic structure of sampled populations. Our results showed clear genetic difference between individuals from Canada and the USA, suggesting at least two different sources of introductions of L. lilii in North America. A first episode of introduction took place in Montréal, Canada in the 1940’s while a second introduction occurred in Cambridge, Massachusetts, around 1990. Also, both North American populations seem to originate from different populations in northern Europe, which support the hypothesis of two distinct sources of introduction. Each population next progressed in its respective country following a stratified dispersal. Indeed, continuous progression of the beetle in some regions of North America suggests a pattern of natural dispersion, while human-mediated carrying of infected lilies seemed to be responsible for the long-range movement of the beetle.