Effective Dispersal of Caribbean Reef Fish is Smaller than Current Spacing Among Marine Protected Areas.

ABSTRACT: The oceans are deteriorating at a fast pace. Conservation measures, such as Marine Protected Areas, are being implemented to relieve areas from local stressors and allow populations to restore to natural levels. Successful networks of MPAs operate if the space among MPAs is smaller than the dispersal capacity of the species under protection. We studied connectivity patterns across populations in a series of MPAs in the common yellowhead Jawfish, Opistognathus aurifrons. Using the power of genome-wide variation, we estimated that the maximum effective dispersal is 8.3 km. We found that MPAs exchange migrants likely via intermediate unprotected habitats through stepping stone dispersal. At scales >50 km such connectivity is decreased, particularly across the Mona Passage. The MPA network stu

SUBMITTER: Beltran DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5498645 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature