Genetic structure is stronger across human-impacted habitats than among islands in the coral Porites lobata.

ABSTRACT: We examined genetic structure in the lobe coral Porites lobata among pairs of highly variable and high-stress nearshore sites and adjacent less variable and less impacted offshore sites on the islands of Oahu and Maui, Hawaii. Using an analysis of molecular variance framework, we tested whether populations were more structured by geographic distance or environmental extremes. The genetic patterns we observed followed isolation by environment, where nearshore and adjacent offshore populations showed significant genetic structure at both locations (AMOVA F _ST = 0.04∼0.19, P < 0.001), but no significant isolation by distance between islands. Strikingly, corals from the two nearshore sites with higher levels of environmental stressors on different islands

SUBMITTER: Tisthammer KH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7034377 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature