Speciation-by-depth on coral reefs: Sympatric divergence with gene flow or cryptic transient isolation?

ABSTRACT: The distributions of many sister species in the sea overlap geographically but are partitioned along depth gradients. The genetic changes leading to depth segregation may evolve in geographic isolation as a prerequisite to coexistence or may emerge during primary divergence leading to new species. These alternatives can now be distinguished via the power endowed by the thousands of scorable loci provided by second-generation sequence data. Here, we revisit the case of two depth-segregated, genetically isolated ecotypes of the nominal Caribbean candelabrum coral Eunicea flexuosa. Previous analyses based on a handful of markers could not distinguish between models of genetic exchange after a period of isolation (consistent with secondary contact) and divergence with gene flow (consistent wit

SUBMITTER: Prada C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7894305 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature