Subtle genetic structure reveals restricted connectivity among populations of a coral reef fish inhabiting remote atolls.

ABSTRACT: We utilized a spatial and temporal analyses of genetic structure, supplemented with ecological and oceanographic analysis, to assess patterns of population connectivity in a coral reef fish Chromis margaritifer among the unique and remote atolls in the eastern Indian Ocean. A subtle, but significant genetic discontinuity at 10 microsatellite DNA loci was detected between atoll systems corresponding with a low (≤ 1%) probability of advection across the hundreds of kilometers of open ocean that separates them. Thus, although genetic connections between systems are likely maintained by occasional long-distance dispersal of C. margaritifer larvae, ecological population connectivity at this spatial scale appears to be restricted. Further, within one of these atoll systems, significant spatial d

SUBMITTER: Underwood JN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3399152 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature