Genetic differentiation amongst populations of the coral Pocillopora damicornis off southwestern Australia |
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Authors: | James A Stoddart |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Zoology, University of Western Australia, 6009 Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia;(2) Present address: Australian Institute of Marine Science, P.M.B. No. 3, 4810 Townsville M.C., Queensland, Australia |
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Abstract: | An electrophoretic study of genetic differentiation amongst local populations of the reef-coral Pocillopora damicornis was used to group coral heads into units defined as the area of effective dispersal of a clone, and termed colonies. For reefs off southwestern Australia, colonies were usually under a few hundred metres in extent. Although most new recruits within a colony were derived asexually, sexually produced propagules acted to connect populations outside the boundaries of a colony. Such connections were weak, and allelic frequencies varied considerably over a few kilometres. The primary agent of genetic differentiation was suggested to be the small effective population size resulting from the asexual proliferation of a few genotypes at any site. The effective number of genotypes per colony was approximately six. Asexual reproduction appears also to limit gene flow and accentuate selection in this species. |
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