Genetic Population Structure of the Coral Reef Sea Star Linckia laevigata in the Western Indian Ocean and Indo-West Pacific.

ABSTRACT: The coral reef sea star Linckia laevigata is common on shallow water coral reefs of the Indo-West Pacific. Its large geographic distribution and comprehensive data from previous studies makes it suitable to examine genetic differentiation and connectivity over large geographical scales. Based on partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene this study investigates the genetic population structure and connectivity of L. laevigata in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) and compares it to previous studies in the Indo-Malay-Philippines Archipelago (IMPA). A total of 138 samples were collected from nine locations in the WIO. AMOVA revealed a low but significant ΦST-value of 0.024 for the WIO populations. In the hierarchical AMOVA, the following grouping rejected the hypothes

SUBMITTER: Otwoma LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5087890 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature