Postglacial expansion of the southern red-backed vole (Clethrionomys gapperi) in North America

Dynamic climatic oscillations of the Pleistocene dramatically changed the distributions of high latitude species. Molecular investigations of a variety of organisms show that processes of postglacial colonization of boreal regions were more complex than initially thought. Phylogeographical and coalescent analyses were conducted on partial sequences of the cytochrome b gene (600 bp) from 64 individuals of Clethrionomys gapperi from North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Idaho, Washington, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, and Alaska to test hypotheses relating to Pleistocene refugia and postglacial colonization routes. Three divergent clades (east, west, central) were identified with highest net divergence (dA = 5.2%) between the eastern and western clades. Populations from the recently deglaciated higher latitudes of Canada and Alaska are closely related to lower latitude populations of the central clade (dA = 1.2%) suggesting recent expansion from this midwestern region. No representatives from the east or west clade were found at latitudes higher than 50 degrees N, indicating that postglacial colonization occurred through a midcontinental route. The high latitude population from the Northwest Territories exhibited demographic patterns and genetic diversity consistent with a stable noncolonizing population. This population is found near the Mackenzie range, where the two continental ice sheets were believed to have coalesced. Molecular variation observed in this population may be the result of leading edge population diversifying in the continental corridor or may reflect the signal of a high latitude refugial population.