Connectivity and genetic structure of the queen conch on the Mesoamerican Reef
The queen conch (Strombus gigas) is a commercially important marine invertebrate that is widely distributed throughout the western Atlantic, from Bermuda to Brazil. Intense exploitation has resulted in a decrease in population numbers of this species, which is listed as protected from commercial exploitation under IUCN and CITES. Previous studies on population genetics have demonstrated contrasting results in terms of the population structure of S. gigas. This research analyzed the genetic connectivity of the queen conch over a wide area of the Mesoamerican Reef System to determine whether S. gigas presents one panmictic population or a more complex structure. Furthermore, we evaluated the risk of local extinction by establishing the genetic diversity of the studied populations. High resolution was obtained for the five ISSR markers used for a total of 190 individuals, from seven localities along the Mesoamerican Reef. Our results reject the panmictic structure hypothesis for the queen conch in the study area and demonstrate genetic patchiness, indicating general homogeneity among localities that present an isolation-by-distance pattern. However, some genetic temporal variation was confirmed for the Cozumel locality. Furthermore, our results reveal self-recruitment for the Alacranes Reef aggregation and suggest sufficient connectivity with localities on the Caribbean coast to maintain high genetic diversity.
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Texto biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | Strombus gigas, Gasterópodos, Dinámica de la población, Variación genética, Artfrosur, |
| Online Access: | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-017-1551-3 |
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