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Article: Investigation of mechanisms underlying chaotic genetic patchiness in the intertidal marbled crab Pachygrapsus marmoratus (Brachyura: Grapsidae) across the Ligurian Sea

TitleInvestigation of mechanisms underlying chaotic genetic patchiness in the intertidal marbled crab Pachygrapsus marmoratus (Brachyura: Grapsidae) across the Ligurian Sea
Authors
KeywordsMicrosatellites
Relatedness
Kin-aggregation
DAPC
Self-recruitment
Issue Date2020
PublisherBioMed Central Ltd. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcevolbiol/
Citation
BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2020, v. 20 n. 1, p. article no. 108 How to Cite?
AbstractBackground: Studies on marine community dynamics and population structures are limited by the lack of exhaustive knowledge on the larval dispersal component of connectivity. Genetic data represents a powerful tool in understanding such processes in the marine realm. When dealing with dispersion and connectivity in marine ecosystems, many evidences show patterns of genetic structure that cannot be explained by any clear geographic trend and may show temporal instability. This scenario is usually referred to as chaotic genetic patchiness, whose driving mechanisms are recognized to be selection, temporal shifts in local population dynamics, sweepstakes reproductive success and collective dispersal. In this study we focused on the marbled crab Pachygrapsus marmoratus that inhabits the rocky shores of the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and East Atlantic Ocean, and disperses through planktonic larvae for about 1 month. P. marmoratus exhibits unexpectedly low connectivity levels at local scale, although well-defined phylogeographic patterns across the species’ distribution range were described. This has been explained as an effect of subtle geographic barriers or due to sweepstake reproductive success. In order to verify a chaotic genetic patchiness scenario, and to explore mechanisms underlying it, we planned our investigation within the Ligurian Sea, an isolated basin of the western Mediterranean Sea, and we genotyped 321 individuals at 11 microsatellite loci. Results: We recorded genetic heterogeneity among our Ligurian Sea samples with the occurrence of genetic clusters not matching the original populations and a slight inter-population divergence, with the geographically most distant populations being the genetically most similar ones. Moreover, individuals from each site were assigned to all the genetic clusters. We also recorded evidences of self-recruitment and a higher than expected within-site kinship. Conclusions: Overall, our results suggest that the chaotic genetic patchiness we found in P. marmoratus Ligurian Sea populations is the result of a combination of differences in reproductive success, en masse larval dispersion and local larval retention. This study defines P. marmoratus as an example of marine spawner whose genetic pool is not homogenous at population level, but rather split in a chaotic mosaic of slightly differentiated genetic patches derived from complex and dynamic ecological processes.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/287837
ISSN
2022 Impact Factor: 3.4
2020 SCImago Journal Rankings: 1.533
PubMed Central ID
ISI Accession Number ID

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorIannucci, A-
dc.contributor.authorCannicci, S-
dc.contributor.authorCaliani, I-
dc.contributor.authorBaratti, M-
dc.contributor.authorPretti, C-
dc.contributor.authorFratini, S-
dc.date.accessioned2020-10-05T12:03:59Z-
dc.date.available2020-10-05T12:03:59Z-
dc.date.issued2020-
dc.identifier.citationBMC Evolutionary Biology, 2020, v. 20 n. 1, p. article no. 108-
dc.identifier.issn1471-2148-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/287837-
dc.description.abstractBackground: Studies on marine community dynamics and population structures are limited by the lack of exhaustive knowledge on the larval dispersal component of connectivity. Genetic data represents a powerful tool in understanding such processes in the marine realm. When dealing with dispersion and connectivity in marine ecosystems, many evidences show patterns of genetic structure that cannot be explained by any clear geographic trend and may show temporal instability. This scenario is usually referred to as chaotic genetic patchiness, whose driving mechanisms are recognized to be selection, temporal shifts in local population dynamics, sweepstakes reproductive success and collective dispersal. In this study we focused on the marbled crab Pachygrapsus marmoratus that inhabits the rocky shores of the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and East Atlantic Ocean, and disperses through planktonic larvae for about 1 month. P. marmoratus exhibits unexpectedly low connectivity levels at local scale, although well-defined phylogeographic patterns across the species’ distribution range were described. This has been explained as an effect of subtle geographic barriers or due to sweepstake reproductive success. In order to verify a chaotic genetic patchiness scenario, and to explore mechanisms underlying it, we planned our investigation within the Ligurian Sea, an isolated basin of the western Mediterranean Sea, and we genotyped 321 individuals at 11 microsatellite loci. Results: We recorded genetic heterogeneity among our Ligurian Sea samples with the occurrence of genetic clusters not matching the original populations and a slight inter-population divergence, with the geographically most distant populations being the genetically most similar ones. Moreover, individuals from each site were assigned to all the genetic clusters. We also recorded evidences of self-recruitment and a higher than expected within-site kinship. Conclusions: Overall, our results suggest that the chaotic genetic patchiness we found in P. marmoratus Ligurian Sea populations is the result of a combination of differences in reproductive success, en masse larval dispersion and local larval retention. This study defines P. marmoratus as an example of marine spawner whose genetic pool is not homogenous at population level, but rather split in a chaotic mosaic of slightly differentiated genetic patches derived from complex and dynamic ecological processes.-
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherBioMed Central Ltd. The Journal's web site is located at http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcevolbiol/-
dc.relation.ispartofBMC Evolutionary Biology-
dc.rightsBMC Evolutionary Biology. Copyright © BioMed Central Ltd.-
dc.rightsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.-
dc.subjectMicrosatellites-
dc.subjectRelatedness-
dc.subjectKin-aggregation-
dc.subjectDAPC-
dc.subjectSelf-recruitment-
dc.titleInvestigation of mechanisms underlying chaotic genetic patchiness in the intertidal marbled crab Pachygrapsus marmoratus (Brachyura: Grapsidae) across the Ligurian Sea-
dc.typeArticle-
dc.identifier.emailCannicci, S: cannicci@hku.hk-
dc.identifier.authorityCannicci, S=rp02079-
dc.description.naturepublished_or_final_version-
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/s12862-020-01672-x-
dc.identifier.pmid32831022-
dc.identifier.pmcidPMC7444255-
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-85090072650-
dc.identifier.hkuros315276-
dc.identifier.volume20-
dc.identifier.issue1-
dc.identifier.spagearticle no. 108-
dc.identifier.epagearticle no. 108-
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000565682200001-
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdom-
dc.identifier.issnl1471-2148-

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