Postglacial intra-lacustrine divergence of Icelandic threespine stickleback morphs in three neovolcanic lakes

The geographical context of divergence and local adaptation of lacustrine fish is controversial. Despite recent theoretical support for sympatric and parapatric divergence, empirical studies providing unequivocal support for this remain scant. An important component of such a case would be where multiple lakes have different morphs and a range of markers, both mitochondrial and nuclear, show monophyly within lakes. Here we describe such a situation for threespine sticklebacks in three lakes in Iceland. By analysing the variation at nuclear and mitochondrial markers in several freshwater and marine populations as well as three pairs of intra-lacustrine morphs we infer their phylogenetic relationships and colonization pattern. There were high levels of microsatellite variation in all populations and no evidence was found for either repeated colonization of marine fish or colonization from distinct glacial refugia. Intra-lacustrine threespine stickleback morphs in all three lakes show significant genetic divergence probably indicating restricted gene flow.