Historical processes and contemporary ocean currents drive genetic structure in the seagrass Thalassia hemprichii in the Indo-Australian Archipelago

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Molecular Ecology

Publisher

Wiley

School

School of Science

RAS ID

25300

Comments

Hernawan, U. E., van Dijk, K.-j., Kendrick, G. A., Feng, M., Biffin, E., Lavery, P. S. & McMahon, K. (2017). Historical processes and contemporary ocean currents drive genetic structure in the seagrass Thalassia hemprichii in the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Molecular Ecology, 26(4), 1008–1021. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.13966

Abstract

Understanding spatial patterns of gene flow and genetic structure is essential for the conservation of marine ecosystems. Contemporary ocean currents and historical isolation due to Pleistocene sea level fluctuations have been predicted to influence the genetic structure in marine populations. In the Indo-Australian Archipelago (IAA), the world's hotspot of marine biodiversity, seagrasses are a vital component but population genetic information is very limited. Here, we reconstructed the phylogeography of the seagrass Thalassia hemprichii in the IAA based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and then characterized the genetic structure based on a panel of 16 microsatellite markers. We further examined the relative importance of historical isolation and contemporary ocean currents in driving the patterns of genetic structure. Results from SNPs revealed three population groups: eastern Indonesia, western Indonesia (Sunda Shelf) and Indian Ocean; while the microsatellites supported five population groups (eastern Indonesia, Sunda Shelf, Lesser Sunda, Western Australia and Indian Ocean). Both SNPs and microsatellites showed asymmetrical gene flow among population groups with a trend of southwestward migration from eastern Indonesia. Genetic diversity was generally higher in eastern Indonesia and decreased southwestward. The pattern of genetic structure and connectivity is attributed partly to the Pleistocene sea level fluctuations modified to a smaller level by contemporary ocean currents.

DOI

10.1111/mec.13966

Related Datasets

Hernawan, U. E., van Dijk, K., Kendrick, G. A., Feng, M., Biffin, E., Lavery, P.S., & McMahon, K. (2016). Data from: Historical processes and contemporary ocean currents drive genetic structure in the seagrass Thalassia hemprichii in the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Dryad Digital Repository. http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.404rm

https://ro.ecu.edu.au/datasets/67

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