Résumé
Population genetics has revealed the genetic diversity of marine species is often subdivided into a mosaic of discrete patches, within which populations are genetically homogeneous, delineated by discontinuities called barriers to gene flow. The aim of this thesis was to contribute to better understand the processes explaining the origin, maintenance and location of genetic barriers at the Atlantic/Mediterranean transition zone. First, we studied the genetic structure of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. In contrast to the abrupt narrow cline reported in Spain, we discovered along the Algerian coastline a 600 km wide mosaic hybrid zone eastward of the Almeria-Oran oceanic front. Second, we studied the genetic structure of a marine gastropod Stramonita haemastoma. We discovered two cryptic lineages differentially fixed for alternative mitochondrial haplogroups, and differentiated at three microsatellite markers developed in this PhD work. Surprisingly, the spatial distribution proved to be an unusual mosaic with a patch of the Atlantic lineage enclaved in the north of the Western Mediterranean Sea, bordered in the South by a hybrid zone in eastern Spain around Valencia. These two studies highlight the importance of intrinsic reproductive isolation in explaining the mosaic distribution of the marine genetic diversity. Although boundaries between patches coincide with physical barriers to dispersal or ecotones, hydrography and environment mainly explain the position of the genetic discontinuities but neither their origin nor their maintenance.