Limited genetic connectivity between gorgonian morphotypes along a depth gradient
Costantini, Federica (University of Bologna. Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche,Geologiche ed Ambientali)
Gori, Andrea (Institut de Ciències del Mar. Departament de Biologia Marina i Oceanografia)
Lopez Gonzalez, Pablo (Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Zoología)
Bramanti, Lorenzo (Sorbone Universités. Observatoire Océanologique)
Rossi, Sergio (Rossi Heras) (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Gili, Josep Maria (Institut de Ciències del Mar. Departament de Biologia Marina i Oceanografia)
Abbiati, Marco (University of Bologna. Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche,Geologiche ed Ambientali)

Fecha:	2016
Resumen:	Gorgonian species show a high morphological variability in relation to the environment in which they live. In coastal areas, parameters such as temperature, light, currents, and food availability vary significantly with depth, potentially affecting morphology of the colonies and the structure of the populations, as well as their connectivity patterns. In tropical seas, the existence of connectivity between shallow and deep populations supported the hypothesis that the deep coral reefs could potentially act as (reproductive) refugia fostering re-colonization of shallow areas after mortality events. Moreover, this hypothesis is not so clear accepted in temperate seas. Eunicella singularis is one of the most common gorgonian species in Northwestern Mediterranean Sea, playing an important role as ecosystem engineer by providing biomass and complexity to the coralligenous habitats. It has a wide bathymetric distribution ranging from about 10 m to 100 m. Two depth-related morphotypes have been identified, differing in colony morphology, sclerite size and shape, and occurrence of symbiotic algae, but not in mitochondrial DNA haplotypes. In the present study the genetic structure of E. singularis populations along a horizontal and bathymetric gradient was assessed using microsatellites and ITS1 sequences. Restricted gene flow was found at 30-40 m depth between the two Eunicella morphotypes. Conversely, no genetic structuring has been found among shallow water populations within a spatial scale of ten kilometers. The break in gene flow between shallow and deep populations contributes to explain the morphological variability observed at different depths. Moreover, the limited vertical connectivity hinted that the refugia hypothesis does not apply to E. singularis. Re-colonization of shallow water populations, occasionally affected by mass mortality events, should then be mainly fueled by larvae from other shallow water populations.
Ayudas:	European Commission 327845 European Commission LIFE07/NAT/E/000732 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2014/SGR-1356
Nota:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552
Nota:	The study was funded by a 2003-2004 INTERREG project between Catalonia Languedoc Rouissillon "Pirineus Mediterrànis: La muntanya que uneix"' of the CSIC and CNRS, of the 2009-2013 European project LIFE+ INDEMARES "Inventario y designación de la red natura 2000 en áreas marinas del estado español" (LIFE07/NAT/E/000732) of the European Union, and by a PRIN 2010-2011 project (prot. 2010Z8HJ5M) on "Coastal bioconstructions: structure, function and management" Italian Ministry of Education, Univeristy and Research..
Derechos:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Lengua:	Anglès
Documento:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Publicado en:	PloS one, Vol. 11, issue 8 (August 2016) , art. 160678, ISSN 1932-6203

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0160678
PMID: 27490900

20 p, 4.0 MB

El registro aparece en las colecciones:
Documentos de investigación > Documentos de los grupos de investigación de la UAB > Centros y grupos de investigación (producción científica) > Ciencias > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Artículos > Artículos de investigación
Artículos > Artículos publicados