Committee Chair

George, Anna L.; Shaw, Joey

Committee Member

Schorr, Mark S.

Department

Dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

The southeastern United States has a rich geologic history that contributed to the evolution of an extremely diverse aquatic fauna throughout the region. The Flame Chub, Hemitremia flammea, is a brightly colored, spring endemic minnow species native to the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Coosa river drainages. In this study, the cytochrome-b gene region was analyzed for 230 individuals from 29 populations across the three drainages. Results from maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses recovered shallow divergence between the 31 haplotypes. AMOVA analyses indicated that most gene tic variation distributed within and between populations, not between drainages. Based on these results, this species may not be restricted to spring habitats as was originally presumed and can move within river systems and likely even between drainages. Further analyses using microsatellites and geospatial modeling would refine these results. Species like H. flammea are indicators of the health of groundwater resources that are under increasing anthropogenic pressure.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

8-2013

Subject

Minnows -- Tennessee

Keyword

Flame chub; Hemitremia flammea

Discipline

Environmental Sciences

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

xi, 72 leaves

Language

English

Rights

https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Download

Share

COinS