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Morphological variation and genetic diversity of Triops cancriformis (Crustacea: Notostraca) and their potential for understanding the influence of postglacial distribution and habitat fragmentation

Triops cancriformis (Crustacea: Notostraca) occurs in ephemeral habitats like rain pools or floodplain pools distributed over a large geographical range. The named habitats are disturbed by human impacts and, consequently, T. cancriformis is endangered throughout its distribution range. In the present thesis the populated habitats and threats are characterised and further morphological and genetic variations detected among and within European populations are reported. On the basis of recent investigations it is shown that T. cancriformis subspecies separation is hampered by an individual variability which points to the necessity of species revision. The analysis of mitochondrial gene sequence data suggests that the species has colonised most of Europe very recently. The advantage of a complex reproductive strategy in T. cancriformis in this process is discussed. The population structure resolved with nuclear DNA markers highlights that there is low allelic diversity among and within populations compared to other Branchiopoda (Daphnia). By means of the present study it can be shown that habitat conservation is most important to protect T. cancriformis.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:22547
Date06 July 2006
CreatorsZierold, Thorid
ContributorsHeilmeier, Hermann, Mau, M., Gomez, A., Schlömann, Michael, Schierwater, Bernd, TU Bergakademie Freiberg
Source SetsHochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typedoc-type:doctoralThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, doc-type:Text
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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