genetic diversity and connectivity in the threatened staghorn coral (acropora cervicornis) in florida遗传多样性和连通性的威胁鹿角珊瑚(疣cervicornis)在佛罗里达州.pdfVIP

Genetic Diversity and Connectivity in the Threatened Staghorn Coral (Acropora cervicornis) in Florida Elizabeth M. Hemond*, Steven V. Vollmer Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, Massachusetts, United States of America Abstract Over the past three decades, populations of the dominant shallow water Caribbean corals, Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata, have been devastated by white-band disease (WBD), resulting in the listing of both species as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. A key to conserving these threatened corals is understanding how their populations are genetically interconnected throughout the greater Caribbean. Genetic research has demonstrated that gene flow is regionally restricted across the Caribbean in both species. Yet, despite being an important site of coral reef research, little genetic data has been available for the Florida Acropora, especially for the staghorn coral, A. cervicornis. In this study, we present new mitochondrial DNA sequence data from 52 A. cervicornis individuals from 22 sites spread across the upper and lower Florida Keys, which suggest that Florida’s A. cervicornis populations are highly genetically interconnected (FST = 20.081). Comparison between Florida and existing mtDNA data from six regional Caribbean populations indicates that Florida possesses high levels of standing genetic diversity (h = 0.824) relative to the rest of the greater Caribbean (h = 0.70160.043). We find that the contemporary level of gene flow across the greater Caribbean, including Florida, is restricted (WCT = 0.117), but evidence from shared haplotypes suggests the Western Caribbean has historically been a source of genetic variation for Florida. Despite the current patchiness of A. cervicorn