5/22/2016  |   13:30 - 13:45   |  308

CONGRUENCE OF PLECOPTERAN TRANSCRIPTOMES AND SANGER-GENERATED MOLECULAR MARKERS WITH EMPHASIS ON RESOLUTION OF THE PERLOIDEA Phylogenetic relationships within the order Plecoptera (stoneflies) are poorly understood and questions remain regarding the monophyly of various clades. Perhaps most notable is the Perloidea superfamily which has largely remained a trichotomy of Chloroperlidae + Perlidae + Perlodidae. To assess these and other relationships, we examined molecular sequence data from six genes: 12S and16S mitochondrial rDNA, the mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase II (COII) gene, the 18S and 28S nuclear rDNA, and the Histone 3 (H3) nuclear protein coding gene. These genes were analyzed as concatenated DNA base–pair sequences. Second, we utilized transcriptomes extracted from a subset of taxa. Because of the deep-time relationships within Plecoptera, transcriptome sequences were translated to amino acid sequences to dampen third base-pair position saturation effects in the analyses. Both data sets resolved the Perloidea trichotomy and the transcriptome data resolved weakly supported relationships among the Euholognatha in the concatenated DNA sequence. Broad taxon-based transcriptome sampling should prove to be a valuable tool in understanding deep phylogenetic relationships among plecopteran taxa.

Brandon Pickett (Primary Presenter/Author), Brigham Young University , pickettbd@gmail.com;


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5/22/2016  |   13:45 - 14:00   |  308

ASSESSING THE ECOLOGICAL DIVERSIFICATION OF CADDISFLIES WITH “BIG DATA” PHYLOGENETIC APPROACHES Freshwaters cover <1% of Earth’s surface but harbor 10% of all animal species; 60% of these are aquatic insects. Following >50 reinvasions of freshwater, ~100,000 species from 12 orders spend one or more life stages underwater. Little is known about how this remarkable morphological and ecological diversity arose. Molecular phylogenies can provide insights into this diversification, but their power to resolve very shallow or deep relationships is often limited. “Big data” approaches can improve resolution at deep and shallow nodes, thereby facilitating the study of ecological diversification in aquatic insects. Rhyacophila represents one of the most species-rich caddisfly genera. Some larvae of Rhyacophila possess abdominal gills of varying complexity. Stream zonation preferences, respiration and osmoregulation have been hypothetically associated with gill shape. Using an anchored hybrid enrichment approach (AHE) we analyzed ~400 protein coding nuclear loci for ~138,000 bp from 20 species of the R. vulgaris-group and 20 other Rhyacophila species. Our results show that within R. vulgaris-group gill shapes progressively evolved from simple to complex forms. We discuss potential ecological implications of gill shape evolution in the R. vulgaris-group.

Steffen Pauls (Primary Presenter/Author), Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt, Germany, steffen.pauls@senckenberg.de;


Paul Frandsen ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA, paulbfrandsen@gmail.com;


Wolfram Graf ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria, wolfram.graf@boku.ac.at;


Karl Kjer ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, karl.kjer@gmail.com;


Alan Lemmon ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA, arlemmon@gmail.com;


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5/22/2016  |   14:00 - 14:15   |  308

AN ASSESSMENT OF POPULATION STRUCTURE AND GENE FLOW IN A WIDESPREAD AQUATIC SALAMANDER UTILIZING NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING METHODS Understanding population connectivity in hierarchical river systems is vital for informing future conservation efforts for at-risk riverine species. We assessed population structure and gene flow of the mudpuppy, a large freshwater salamander, at multiple hierarchical scales within three river systems using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) methods. The mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) is fully aquatic, but can adapt to multiple types of lentic and lotic environments, potentially increasing its population connectivity. Additionally, this species serves as the dispersal host for the imperiled salamander mussel, Simpsonaias ambigua. As host mobility can influence gene flow among mussel populations, understanding the population structure of the mudpuppy host is also vital in understanding patterns of isolation and dispersal in the salamander mussel. We found unique patterns of gene flow and population structure across hierarchical scales in these lotic networks, which not only further our knowledge of population connectivity, but can directly inform conservation efforts for Simpsonaias ambigua. We also highlight the utility of next-generation sequencing methods to recover genome-wide patterns of genetic variation in species with exceptionally large genomes, such as the mudpuppy.

Mason Murphy (Primary Presenter/Author), University of Kentucky, masonomurphy@gmail.com;


Steven Price ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Kentucky, steven.price@uky.edu;


David Weisrock ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Kentucky, dweis2@uky.edu;


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5/22/2016  |   14:15 - 14:30   |  308

RIVERSCAPE GENOMICS OF A FRESHWATER INVERTEBRATE Landscape genomics blends the physical structure of a landscape and the population genomics of organisms inhabiting the system. River networks provide a unique, but ideal system for studying landscape genomics because the river itself identifies the only movement corridors across the landscape; a major source of uncertainty in terrestrial systems. Additionally, barriers to movement along dispersal corridors are easily identified in rivers (e.g., dams, waterfalls) and span the corridor’s entire width. This makes quantifying the impact of barriers in river networks simple because no alternative routes circumvent barriers. When using fully aquatic species (no terrestrial life stage), next-generation sequencing technologies can be leveraged to scan individual genomes generating thousands of genetic markers to quantify population differentiation across small and large spatial extents. Pairing genomic and riverscape data provides insights into the ways humans fragment populations and can inform species conservation efforts. Our study uses restriction-site associated DNA sequencing to demonstrate how population genetic structure of a freshwater mussel species in the Neuse River Basin of North Carolina relates to current and historic barriers in the system.

Matthew Fuller (Primary Presenter/Author), ORISE postdoc with US EPA/Atlantic Ecology Division, matthew.robert.fuller@gmail.com;


Martin Doyle ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Duke University, martin.doyle@duke.edu;


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5/22/2016  |   14:30 - 14:45   |  308

DEMOGRAPHIC MODEL TESTING REVEALS A HISTORY OF DIVERGENCE WITH GENE FLOW FOR A GLACIALLY-TIED STONEFLY IN A CHANGING POST-PLEISTOCENE LANDSCAPE Climate change is dramatically altering alpine stream ecosystems where glacial recession and the loss of meltwater sources affects hydrology and downstream biotic conditions. For species threatened by climate change, linking genetic structure and the historical influences driving it can improve our understanding of how species respond to environmental change, and guide taxon-specific management decisions. The meltwater stonefly Lednia tumana is a glacially-tied macroinvertebrate, endemic to Glacier National Park, and inhabits a narrow band of habitat high in alpine watersheds, often below glaciers. Here, we utilized 6819 SNP markers generated through RADseq to investigate population structure and demographic history of L. tumana. Our results indicate that L. tumana is comprised of three lineages that correlate with geography. Demographic modeling supports a history of divergence with gene flow that likely occurred with the retreat of glacial mass towards the end of the Pleistocene (~18–20 kya). These results further support the link between L. tumana and glaciers throughout its recent evolutionary history, and provide one of the first glimpses into the demographic history of an aquatic insect directly tied to glacial mass.

Scott Hotaling (Primary Presenter/Author), Washington State University, scott.hotaling@uky.edu;


Clint Muhlfeld ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), U.S. Geological Survey, cmuhlfeld@usgs.gov;


J. Joseph Giersch ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Flathead Lake Biological Station, jgiersch@usgs.gov;


Omar Ali ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), U.C. Davis, onoali@ucdavis.edu;


Steve Jordan ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Bucknell, sdjordan@bucknell.edu;


Michael R. Miller ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), UC Davis, micmiller@ucdavis.edu;


Gordon Luikart ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Flathead Lake Biological Station, The University of Montana, gordon.luikart@umontana.edu;


David Weisrock ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Kentucky, dweis2@uky.edu;


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5/22/2016  |   14:45 - 15:00   |  308

WHOLE MITOCHONDRIAL GENOMES TO IDENTIFY GENETIC VARIATION IN A LONG-LIVED SPECIES, THE AUSTRALIAN LUNGFISH The ‘vulnerable’ Australian lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri (Dipnoi) occurs only in a few catchments in south-east Queensland. One population in the Brisbane River is particularly at risk, because recruitment is very limited and many eggs and larvae show developmental abnormalities, but it has been proposed that this population represents a translocation so is of less conservation significance. This question has previously been addressed with allozymes, mitochondrial control region and microsatellites but the levels of variation at all these markers are exceedingly low, restricting statistical power. In this study, NGS of whole mitochondrial genomes was used to examine genetic variation in 71 individual lungfish collected from 5 catchments, 3 potentially native populations and two thought to be translocated. This technique identified significantly more variation than previous approaches, notably two distinct clades and 33 haplotypes. The results further supported the hypothesis that two of the populations were translocated. They each had much lower haplotype diversity, and like the Mary River and unlike the other two catchments, contained both clades. The translocation hypothesis is being further tested using Rad seq.

Jane Hughes (Primary Presenter/Author), Griffith University, jane.hughes@griffith.edu.au;
Jane Hughes is a Professor in the Griffith School of Environment at Griffith University in Brisbane Australia. She is also a Senior Fellow in the Australian Rivers Institute. Jane's undergraduate and Honours degrees are from the University of Western Australia and her PhD is from La Trobe University in Melbourne. She has been at Griffith University as an academic since 1978, when she began as a Junior Teaching Fellow. Her research is mainly focused on the use of molecular techniques to address questions in ecology and evolution and recently, much of her work has focused on connectivity among populations of aquatic animals in rivers and streams. She and her students have also published a lot of papers on the processes maintaining and producing biodiversity. When not working on freshwater fish and invertebrates, Jane works on the evolution of diversity in Australian birds. Jane is an editor for Freshwater Science, Marine and Freshwater Research, PeerJ and Heredity.

Cameron Bishop ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Griffith University, cameron.bishop@griffithuni.edu.au;


Daniel J. Schmidt ( Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, d.schmidt@griffith.edu.au;


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