Concordant Patterns of Population Genetic Structure and Symbiont Communities in a Broadcasting Spawning Coral Along a Western Australian Fringing Reef.

ABSTRACT: The degree of connectivity across ecosystems is a key determinant of resilience, directly influencing recovery potential after disturbance and long-term ecosystem stability. In reef-building corals, there is added complexity to these processes because both the coral host and their symbiotic dinoflagellates determine resilience. Given these complexities, we investigated the connectivity of a broadcast spawning coral and its associated algal symbiont communities along the Ningaloo Reef Marine Park and Muiron Island Management Area. Using reduced representation sequencing and DNA metabarcoding in 158 colonies of Acropora cf. tenuis across 14 sampling sites, we detected significant spatial genetic structure in the coral host consistent with a pattern of isolation by distance (IBD

SUBMITTER: Duffy SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12848603 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature