Genetic Diversity and Connectivity in the Threatened Staghorn Coral (Acropora cervicornis) in Florida 英文参考文献.docVIP

GeneticDiversityandConnectivityintheThreatened StaghornCoral(Acroporacervicornis)inFlorida ElizabethM.Hemond*,StevenV.Vollmer MarineScienceCenter,NortheasternUniversity,Nahant,Massachusetts,UnitedStatesofAmerica Abstract Over the past three decades, populations of the dominant shallow water Caribbean corals, Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata,havebeendevastatedbywhite-banddisease(WBD),resultinginthelistingofbothspeciesasthreatenedunder theU.S.EndangeredSpeciesAct.Akeytoconservingthesethreatenedcoralsisunderstandinghowtheirpopulationsare genetically interconnected throughout the greater Caribbean. Genetic research has demonstrated that gene flow is regionallyrestrictedacrosstheCaribbeaninbothspecies.Yet,despitebeinganimportantsiteofcoralreefresearch,little geneticdatahasbeenavailablefortheFloridaAcropora,especiallyforthestaghorncoral,A.cervicornis.Inthisstudy,we presentnewmitochondrialDNAsequencedatafrom52A.cervicornisindividualsfrom22sitesspreadacrosstheupperand lower Florida Keys, which suggest that Florida’s A. cervicornis populations are highly genetically interconnected (FST=20.081). Comparison between Florida and existing mtDNA data from six regional Caribbean populations indicates that Florida possesses high levels of standing genetic diversity (h=0.824) relative to the rest of the greater Caribbean (h=0.70160.043). We find that the contemporary level of gene flow across the greater Caribbean, including Florida, is restricted (WCT=0.117), but evidence from shared haplotypes suggests the Western Caribbean has historically been a sourceofgeneticvariationforFlorida.DespitethecurrentpatchinessofA.cervicornisinFlorida,therelativelyhighgenetic diversityandconnectivitywithinFloridasuggestthatthispopulationmayhavesufficientgeneticvariationtobeviableand resilienttoenvironmentalperturbationanddisease.Limitedgeneticexchangeacrossregionalpopulationsofthegreater Caribbean,includingFlorida,indicatesthatconservationeffortsforA.cervicornisshouldfocusonmaintainingandmanagin