title: The invasive bighead goby Ponticola kessleri displays large-scale genetic similarities and small-scale genetic differentiation in relation to shipping patterns.
abstract: Colonization events, range expansions and species invasions leave genetic signatures in the genomes of invasive organisms and produce intricate special patterns. Predictions have been made as to how those patterns arise, but only very rarely, genetic processes can be monitored in real time during range expansions. In an attempt to change that, we track a very recently established invasive population of a fish species, the bighead goby Ponticola kessleri, with high temporal and spatial resolution through 2 years to identify patterns over time. We then compare Swiss and German samples of bighead goby along the river Rhine using microsatellites, mitochondrial D-loop sequences and geometric morphometrics to investigate geographic patterns. We detect weak temporal and strong geographic patterns in the data, which are inconsistent with isolation by distance and indicate long range transport. In search of an explanation for our observations, we analyse the vector properties and travel patterns of commercial vessels on the river Rhine. We present evidence that freshwater cargo ships and tankers are plausible vectors for larvae of invasive goby species. We also present indications that cargo ships and tankers act as differential vectors for this species. In summary, we present genetic data at unique temporal resolution from a vertebrate invasion front and substantiate the paramount role of commercial shipping in freshwater fish translocations.
authors.affiliation: Program Man-Society-Environment, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Vesalgasse 1, CH-4051, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Adrian-Kalchhauser
authors.affiliation: Program Man-Society-Environment, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Vesalgasse 1, CH-4051, Basel, Switzerland.|Research Centre for Sustainable Energy and Water Supply, University of Basel, Peter Merian Weg 6, CH-4002, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Hirsch
authors.affiliation: Limnological Institute, University of Konstanz, Mainaustrasse 252, D-78457, Konstanz, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Behrmann-Godel
authors.affiliation: Program Man-Society-Environment, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Vesalgasse 1, CH-4051, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: N'Guyen
authors.affiliation: Zoological Institute of the University of Cologne, Department of General Ecology & Limnology, Ecological Field Station Grietherbusch, D-50923, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Watzlawczyk
authors.affiliation: Zoological Institute of the University of Cologne, Department of General Ecology & Limnology, Ecological Field Station Grietherbusch, D-50923, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gertzen
authors.affiliation: Zoological Institute of the University of Cologne, Department of General Ecology & Limnology, Ecological Field Station Grietherbusch, D-50923, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Borcherding
authors.affiliation: Program Man-Society-Environment, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Vesalgasse 1, CH-4051, Basel, Switzerland.|Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, 11455 Saskatchewan Drive, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Burkhardt-Holm
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005858:Germany; D006239:Haplotypes; D058865:Introduced Species; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D010473:Perciformes / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D045483:Rivers; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012767:Ships; D013557:Switzerland
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
keywords: Ponto-Caspian goby; ballast water; invasion genetics; microsatellite; vector