Deep connections: Divergence histories with gene flow in mesophotic Agaricia corals.

ABSTRACT: Largely understudied, mesophotic coral ecosystems lie below shallow reefs (at >30 m depth) and comprise ecologically distinct communities. Brooding reproductive modes appear to predominate among mesophotic-specialist corals and may limit genetic connectivity among populations. Using reduced representation genomic sequencing, we assessed spatial population genetic structure at 50 m depth in an ecologically important mesophotic-specialist species Agaricia grahamae, among locations in the Southern Caribbean. We also tested for hybridisation with the closely related (but depth-generalist) species Agaricia lamarcki, within their sympatric depth zone (50 m). In contrast to our expectations, no spatial genetic structure was detected between the reefs of Curaçao and Bonaire (~40 km apart) within A

SUBMITTER: Prata KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9303685 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature