A major sextet of mitochondrial DNA phylogenetic assemblages extant in eastern North American brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis): distribution and postglacial dispersal patterns

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of 2422 brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) from 60 units (major drainages, small stream catchments, and isolated lakes) representing 155 populations in eastern North America were examined to test hypotheses regarding postglacial dispersal and recolonization. An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that 38.8% of the variation was partitioned among the units, while approximately 60% was distributed among populations (phiST = 59.3) compared with 40.7% within populations. This distribution of variation suggests a large degree of heterogeneity in population founding events and phylogeographic structuring in this species. Comparisons of mtDNA diversity between fish from putative refugial and recolonization zones for this species indicate that more than one refugial region contributed to northern recolonization. Haplotypic diversities in recolonized regions are greatest in south-central populations (i.e., southern Great Lakes region), while only one haplotype (haplotype 1) predominates in northern, western, and eastern postglacial zones. Large phylogenetic differences were found between northern and southern populations. Populations outside the zone of glaciation were the most genetically heterogeneous and were represented by fish from all six (A-F) of the major evolutionary clades identified. Only fish from the A, B, and C clades were found in glaciated regions, with C lineage fish restricted to south-central glaciation zones. Fish from the C clade are putatively the most ancestral lineage within the species based upon composite shared RFLPs with lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus).