Patterns of genetic variation do not correlate with geographical distance in the reef-building coral Pocillopora meandrina in the South Pacific

Dispersal may be a critical factor in the ability of reef-building corals to recover after major disturbances. We studied patterns of geographical structure using four microsatellite markers in seven South Pacific populations of Pocillopora meandrina, a major coral species from Polynesia. Variation within populations showed evidence of heterozygote deficiency. Genetic differentiation between populations was detected at a large scale (2000 km) between the Tonga and the Society Islands. Within the Society Islands, four of the five studied populations from Bora Bora, Moorea and Tahiti were not significantly different from each other. Unexpectedly, one of the three populations surveyed in Moorea was genetically different from the other two populations of this island (that were 5 and 10 km apart), and from the populations of the other two surveyed islands in this archipelago. We cannot rule out the possibility that this pattern is an equilibrium state, whereby short-range dispersal is locally more differentiating than long-range dispersal, as has been suggested by similar patterns reported in other studies. An alternative explanation that is globally consistent with all observations is that this is the signature of a large-scale destruction event, as for instance a bleaching event, followed by the recent restoration of populations by new colonists.