From depth to regional spatial genetic differentiation of Eunicella cavolini in the NW Mediterranean |
| |
Authors: | Almudena Cánovas-Molina Monica Montefalcone Giorgio Bavestrello Mauatassem Billah Masmoudi Anne Haguenauer Pachka Hammami Lamya Chaoui Mohammed Hichem Kara Didier Aurelle |
| |
Institution: | 1. DiSTAV, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e della Vita, Università di Genova, Corso Europa 26, 16132 Genova, Italy;2. Laboratoire “Bioressources marines”, Université d’Annaba, Badji Mokhtar, BP 230, Oued Kouba, 23008 Annaba, Algeria;3. Aix Marseille University, Avignon Université, CNRS, IRD, IMBE, Marseille, France;4. Aix Marseille University, Université de Toulon, CNRS, IRD, MIO UM 110, 13288 Marseille, France |
| |
Abstract: | Connectivity studies in the marine realm are of great importance to understand the evolutionary potential of populations in a context of growing pressures on the marine environment. Here, we investigated the effect of the local, regional, and depth spatial scale on the population genetic structure of the yellow gorgonian Eunicella cavolini, one of the most common octocoral species of the Mediterranean hard-bottom communities. This species, along with other sessile metazoans typical of coralligenous ecosystems, plays an important role in supporting biodiversity, but is also impacted by direct and indirect consequences of human activities, such as physical destruction or mortality events due to thermal anomalies. Samples were taken from 15 sites located in the Ligurian Sea (NW Mediterranean) in two adjacent regions 100 kilometres apart, i.e. from the areas of Marseille (France) and Portofino (Genoa, Italy), and were analysed using six microsatellite loci. A pattern of isolation by distance was observed at the regional as well as the local scales. Although E. cavolini showed less genetic structure than other Mediterranean octocorallian species, we observed a significant genetic differentiation between populations a few kilometres apart. A low genetic differentiation was also observed between shallow and deep populations. The occurrence of genetically differentiated populations of E. cavolini at the scale of kilometres has important consequences for the management of this species and of the associated communities. |
| |
Keywords: | Gorgonian Connectivity Spatial scale Mediterranean Genetic structure |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|