Life‐history predicts past and present population connectivity in two sympatric sea stars |
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| Authors: | Jonathan B. Puritz Carson C. Keever Jason A. Addison Sergio S. Barbosa Maria Byrne Michael W. Hart Richard K. Grosberg Robert J. Toonen |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Marine Science Center, Northeastern University, Nahant, MA, USA;2. Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Kāne'ohe, HI, USA;3. Department of Biology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC, Canada;4. Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada;5. Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada;6. Schools of Medical and Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia;7. Crawford Lab, Centre for Evolutionary Studies, Simon Fraser UniversityBurnaby, BC, Canada;8. Department of Evolution and Ecology, College of Biological Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA |
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| Abstract: | Life‐history traits, especially the mode and duration of larval development, are expected to strongly influence the population connectivity and phylogeography of marine species. Comparative analysis of sympatric, closely related species with differing life histories provides the opportunity to specifically investigate these mechanisms of evolution but have been equivocal in this regard. Here, we sample two sympatric sea stars across the same geographic range in temperate waters of Australia. Using a combination of mitochondrial DNA sequences, nuclear DNA sequences, and microsatellite genotypes, we show that the benthic‐developing sea star, Parvulastra exigua, has lower levels of within‐ and among‐population genetic diversity, more inferred genetic clusters, and higher levels of hierarchical and pairwise population structure than Meridiastra calcar, a species with planktonic development. While both species have populations that have diverged since the middle of the second glacial period of the Pleistocene, most P. exigua populations have origins after the last glacial maxima (LGM), whereas most M. calcar populations diverged long before the LGM. Our results indicate that phylogenetic patterns of these two species are consistent with predicted dispersal abilities; the benthic‐developing P. exigua shows a pattern of extirpation during the LGM with subsequent recolonization, whereas the planktonic‐developing M. calcar shows a pattern of persistence and isolation during the LGM with subsequent post‐Pleistocene introgression. |
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| Keywords: | gene flow phylogeography population genetics population structure |
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