Dataset Information

Larval connectivity patterns of the North Indo-West Pacific coral reefs.

ABSTRACT: Coral reefs of the North Indo-West Pacific provide important ecosystem services to the region but are subjected to multiple local and global threats. Strengthening management measures necessitate understanding the variability of larval connectivity and bridging global connectivity models to local scales. An individual-based Lagrangian biophysical model was used to simulate connectivity between coral reefs for three organisms with different early life history characteristics: a coral (Acropora millepora), a sea urchin (Tripneustes gratilla), and a reef fish (Epinephelus sp). Connectivity metrics and reef clusters were computed from the settlement probability matrices. Fitted power law functions derived from the dispersal kernels provided relative probabilities of connection given only the distance between reefs, and demonstrated that 95% of the larvae across organisms settled within a third of their maximum settlement distances. The magnitude of the connectivity metric values of reef cells were sensitive to differences both in the type of organism and temporal variability. Seasonal variability of connections was more dominant than interannual variability. However, despite these differences, the moderate to high correlation of metrics between organisms and seasonal matrices suggest that the spatial patterns are relatively similar between reefs. A cluster analysis based on the Bray-Curtis Dissimilarity of sink and source connections synthesized the inherent variability of these multiple large connectivity matrices. Through this, similarities in regional connectivity patterns were determined at various cluster sizes depending on the scale of interest. The validity of the model is supported by 1) the simulated dispersal kernels being within the range of reported parentage analysis estimates; and, 2) the clusters that emerged reflect the dispersal barriers implied by previously published population genetics studies. The tools presented here (dispersal kernels, temporal variability maps and reef clustering) can be used to include regional patterns of connectivity into the spatial management of coral reefs.

SUBMITTER: Pata PR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6650046 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Larval connectivity patterns of the North Indo-West Pacific coral reefs.

Pata Patrick R PR Yñiguez Aletta T AT

PloS one 20190723 7

Coral reefs of the North Indo-West Pacific provide important ecosystem services to the region but are subjected to multiple local and global threats. Strengthening management measures necessitate understanding the variability of larval connectivity and bridging global connectivity models to local scales. An individual-based Lagrangian biophysical model was used to simulate connectivity between coral reefs for three organisms with different early life history characteristics: a coral (Acropora mi ...[more]

PMID: 31335893

Similar Datasets

Project description:Mangroves are ecologically important forest communities in tropical and subtropical coasts, the effective management of which requires understanding of their phylogeographic patterns. However, these patterns often vary among different species, even among ecologically similar taxa or congeneric species. Here, we investigated the levels and patterns of genetic variation within Lumnitzera consisting of two species (L. racemosa and L. littorea) with nearly sympatric ranges across the Indo-West Pacific (IWP) region by sequencing three chloroplast DNA regions (for both species) and genotyping 11 nuclear microsatellite loci (for L. littorea). Consistent with findings in studies on other mangrove species, we found that both L. racemosa and L. littorea showed relatively high genetic variation among populations but low genetic variation within populations. Haplotype network and genetic clustering analyses indicated two well-differentiated clades in both L. racemosa and L. littorea. The relationship between geographic and genetic distances and divergence time estimates of the haplotypes indicated that limited dispersal ability of the propagules, emergence of land barriers during ancient sea-level changes, and contemporary oceanic circulation pattern in the IWP influenced the current population structure of the two species. However, the position of genetic break was found to vary between the two species: in L. racemosa, strong divergence was observed between populations from the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean possibly due to land barrier effect of the Malay Peninsula; in L. littorea, the phylogeographic pattern was created by a more eastward genetic break along the biogeographic barrier identified as the Huxley's line. Overall, our findings strongly supported previous hypothesis of mangrove species divergence and revealed that the two Lumnitzera species have different phylogeographic patterns despite their close genetic relationship and similar current geographic distribution. The findings also provided references for the management of Lumnitzera mangroves, especially for the threatened L. littorea.

Dataset Information

Larval connectivity patterns of the North Indo-West Pacific coral reefs.

Publications

Larval connectivity patterns of the North Indo-West Pacific coral reefs.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets