The Herpetological Journal

pp.187-193

Authors: Håkan Tegelström And Per Sjögren-gulve

Abstract: The isolated Swedish metapopulation of pool frogs (Rana lessonae) was not discovered until the 1940s and is classified as "vulnerable" in conservation terms. Swedish pool frogs are now known from 96 localities along the Baltic coast of east-central Sweden, and differ from Central European conspecifics in terms of col oration and low allozyme heterozygosity. Using mini- and microsatellite DNA fingerprinting and allozyme electrophoresis, we studied genetic differentiation among pool frogs from Poland, Latvia, Russia, and Sweden. Allozyme variability was partitioned equally within and among the populations (F _ST = 0.50). Both allozyme and DNA fingerprint analyses indicated that Swedish frogs were most similar to Latvian ones. The average similarity in DNA fingerprints among Swedish populations was of the same order as the similarity within the Polish, Latvian or Russian populations. Pool frogs from opposite ends of the Swedish distribution, however, were as different from one another as they were from continental conspecifics. Our results complement and corroborate the evidence from other studies, suggesting that there is a "northern clade" of Swedish, Norwegian and British pool frogs, and that the Swedish pool frogs constitute a relict population rather than being descendants from a recent introduction by humans.

Keywords: DNA fingerprinting, enzyme electrophoresis, green frogs