A new model system for speciation research
After more than 200 years of intense ecological and evo- lutionary research, the Daphnia pulex species complex emerges as a model system not only for ecological genomics (Colbourne et al. 2011) but also for speciation studies. The complex includes approximately 12 species (distinct mitochondrial lineages) that inhabit a variety of standing freshwater habitats ranging from temperate and arctic lakes and ponds to coastal or sand dune ponds (Colbourne & Hebert 1996; Colbourne et al. 1998; Adamowicz et al. 2009; Vergilino et al. 2011) and are characterized by various degrees of reproductive isola- tion and significant intraspecific (among populations) genetic subdivision (Crease et al. 1997; Pfrender et al.
2000). In North America, the two most prevalent species of the complex are D. pulex (Leydig), a temperate pond species, and Daphnia pulicaria (Forbes), a widely distrib- uted and geographically structured lake species. The two ecologically distinct species are estimated to have diverged relatively recently, less than 2 Mya, based on mitochondrial markers (Colbourne & Hebert 1996; Col- bourne et al. 1998), or about 82 kya based on nuclear loci (Omilian & Lynch 2009). The two species show marked differences in life history traits; pond Daphnia grow faster, have larger body size, shorter life span, and earlier age of first reproduction than lake Daphnia (Dudycha & Tessier 1999; Dudycha 2004). Based on these observations, it has been proposed that current barriers to gene flow between lake and pond popula- tions are largely prezygotic, and involve ecologically- based barriers such as habitat (Lynch 1985; Pfrender et al. 2000; Heier & Dudycha 2009) and temporal (allo- chronic) isolation (Deng 1997).