Low genetic variation for Dendrobaena octaedra from Greenland compared to populations from Europe and North America: Refuge or selection?

The genetic relationship of 345 specimens of the parthenogenetic lumbricid Dendrobaena octaedra from Greenland, Canada and Europe were analysed by means of isozymes. The results showed that populations from Greenland were markedly different from Canadian and European populations, suggesting that dispersal between Greenland and the continents has been much more restricted in the past than dispersal between North America and Europe. This observation supports to the notion that Greenland populations have persisted for a long period and perhaps have survived the last glacial period in ice-free refugia. A highly significant positive correlation was seen between diversity measured either as mean haploid diversity or clonal diversity and mean temperature of the annual coldest month. These results indicate that temperature might cause selection in colder climates or that sexual processes in D. dendrobaena could have been active recently on an evolutionary time scale.