Exploring the impact of multidecadal environmental changes on the population genetic structure of a marine primary producer |
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Authors: | Nina Lundholm Sofia Ribeiro Anna Godhe Lene Rostgaard Nielsen Marianne Ellegaard |
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Affiliation: | 1. The Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen K, Denmark;2. Glaciology and Climate Department, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Copenhagen K, Denmark;3. Department of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, G?teborg, Sweden;4. Deparment of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark;5. Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark |
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Abstract: | Many marine protists form resting stages that can remain viable in coastal sediments for several decades. Their long‐term survival offers the possibility to explore the impact of changes in environmental conditions on population dynamics over multidecadal time scales. Resting stages of the phototrophic dinoflagellate Pentapharsodinium dalei were isolated and germinated from five layers in dated sediment cores from Koljö fjord, Sweden, spanning ca. 1910–2006. This fjord has, during the last century, experienced environmental fluctuations linked to hydrographic variability mainly driven by the North Atlantic Oscillation. Population genetic analyses based on six microsatellite markers revealed high genetic diversity and suggested that samples belonged to two clusters of subpopulations that have persisted for nearly a century. We observed subpopulation shifts coinciding with changes in hydrographic conditions. The large degree of genetic diversity and the potential for both fluctuation and recovery over longer time scales documented here, may help to explain the long‐term success of aquatic protists that form resting stages. |
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Keywords: | dinoflagellate environmental change microsatellites phytoplankton resting stage population genetic structure sediment core |
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