American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) Phylogeny Lisa M. Wilson April 26, 2010
Introduced Species Introduced species are a major cause of endangerment of species in the U.S. 400 of 958 species in U.S. Huge economic impact
American Bullfrog Successful colonizer Native to North America east of the Mississippi River Introduced to western North America, China, Venezuela, Brazil, Europe… Preys on and outcompetes native species Acts as reservoir and vector of chytrid
Invasive Management Eradication impossible Management for coexistence Prevention! Climate matching is best predictor Legislation to control intentional introductions Is there variability between populations within Bullfrog range that affect climate matching ability?
Project Goal Use available sequence data to look for differences between populations that may be related to climatic variables
Methods Cytochrome b sequences for Bullfrog and Green Frog from NCBI Aligned in Seaview using ClustalW Maximum-likelihood tree created with RAxML 1000 bootstraps Tree visualized and modified in FigTree Compared arrangement of source populations in tree with climate variables Locations from original papers (Austin et al. 2003, 2004)
Results
Drought Tolerance Closely related and relatively recent Founder effects Requires same genetic drift between all populations China, Java, California, Texas, Missouri, Kansas? From most arid locations Cyt b could be related to drought tolerance Role in cellular respiration
Discussion No influence of temperature Thermal tolerances not heritable Cyt b not related to thermal tolerances Distribution of cyt b haplotypes determined by refugia during last glacial maximum New York is basal, Ontario closely related to Florida High rate of gene flow – human mediated transport?
Summary Limited by data availability Cytochrome b only widely available sequence Limited known locations More populations, more genes, ideally related genes!