1. ¹School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd, UK
2. ²Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, UK
3. ³Department of Biological Sciences, University of Hull, Hull, UK

Correspondence: Dr J Rock, School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales Bangor, Deiniol, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK. E-mail: j.rock@bangor.ac.uk

Received 18 August 2006; Revised 20 December 2006; Accepted 16 February 2007; Published online 11 April 2007.

Abstract

Genetic diversity and phylogeographic population structure in the gammarid amphipod, Gammarus duebeni, were investigated across its broad latitudinal distribution in the NE and NW Atlantic by analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence. Gammarus duebeni has exceptional tolerance of salinity change and inhabits environments ranging from marine to freshwater. The longstanding debate on whether there are distinct marine and freshwater subspecies was assessed by sampling populations from sites characterized by different salinities. Our sequence data demonstrates that there are two major lineages, with little internal geographic structuring. Evidence is provided to suggest a pre-glacial divergence of these two clades, involving segregation between a region historically associated with the freshwater form and the majority of the marine localities on both sides of the Atlantic. A modern contact zone between the marine and freshwater forms is proposed in western Britain.