Fine-scale genetic structure and relatedness in the eelgrass Zostera marina

Kamel, Stephanie J.; Hughes, A. Randall; Grosberg, Richard K.; Stachowicz, John J.

doi:10.3354/meps09447

Cited by 46 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 62 publications

(46 reference statements)

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“…Relatedness values in our study can be as high as 0.841 and are comparable to those from a study with Z. marina also at a seascape level (Kamel et al . ). The generally very high relatedness values in both seagrass species (often higher than expected from parent–offspring relationships) can be explained by potential inbreeding (parent–offspring) and by the fact that reproduction is predominantly asexual, with possibly common somatic mutations, which may also be transferred to offspring in plants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Should we sync? Seascape‐level genetic and ecological factors determine seagrass flowering patterns

et al. 2015

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Summary Spatial and temporal heterogeneity in flowering occur in many plant species with abiotic pollination and may confer fitness advantages through mechanisms such as predator satiation or pollination efficiency. Environmental factors such as light quality or quantity and temperature play an important role in inducing synchronization on wide geographic scales. On a smaller geographic scale, external factors such as resource availability and herbivory are theorized to trigger flowering, while genetic factors may also play an important role. In this study, we assessed the importance of ecological and genetic factors in shaping seascape‐level spatial heterogeneity in flowering of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica. By investigating spatially close sites (<20 km) with similar seascape configurations and depth, we assume that major environmental drivers (temperature and light) were equivalent. We assessed four ecological factors (productivity, leaf nitrogen and carbon content and herbivory) and three genetic factors (heterozygosity, relatedness and clonality) to assess three hypotheses for synchronized flowering in P. oceanica: (i) clone synchronization (internal clock hypothesis), (ii) variation in nutrient availability, potentially caused by spatial heterogeneity in herbivory rates or nutrient translocation via clonal integration (resource budget hypothesis) or (iii) kin selection and sibling synchronization. Internal relatedness and heterozygosity had a significant positive effect on the abundance of flowers. Moreover, productivity and genotypic richness (clonality) were negatively associated with flower density, although at a lower level of significance. In addition, we found that clones were almost exclusively shared among mass‐flowering patches and patches without mass‐flowering, respectively. Synthesis. The results shed new light on seagrass flowering patterns and on the mechanisms of flower synchronization at the patch level within a wider spatial scale. We found support for the kin selection hypothesis and indirect evidence for the resource budget hypothesis. Thus, a combination of mainly genetic but also ecological factors causes the observed heterogeneous flowering patterns in Posidonia oceanica seascapes. In addition, we found a strong positive relationship between the number of flowers and heterozygosity, adding evidence to the controversial association between heterozygosity and fitness when a limited number of loci are used. To our knowledge, this study is the first to link both ecological and genetic factors with flower abundance in a species with a presumed masting strategy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…While there is a body of literature associating heterozygosity with fitness, research on implications of neighbourhood and kinship in seagrasses has only recently been initiated (Kamel et al . ; Stachowicz et al . ) and still deserves further research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Should we sync? Seascape‐level genetic and ecological factors determine seagrass flowering patterns

et al. 2015

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“…For habitat‐forming species like the eastern oyster and eelgrass, genetic relatedness may be particularly important in determining the effects of genetic diversity on ecological processes given close interactions with conspecifics (Kamel et al. , Stachowicz et al. ) and thus merits consideration in aquaculture design.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of intraspecific diversity on survivorship, growth, and recruitment of the eastern oyster across sites

Hanley

Hughes

Williams

et al. 2016

Ecology

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Intraspecific diversity, particularly of foundation species, can significantly affect population, community, and ecosystem processes. Examining how genetic diversity relates to demographic traits provides a key mechanistic link from genotypic and phenotypic variation of taxa with complex life histories to their population dynamics. We conducted a field experiment to assess how two metrics of intraspecific diversity (cohort diversity, the number of independent juvenile cohorts created from different adult source populations, and genetic relatedness, genetic similarity among individuals within and across cohorts) affect the survivorship, growth, and recruitment of the foundation species Crassostrea virginica. To assess the effects of both cohort diversity and genetic relatedness on oyster demographic traits under different environmental conditions, we manipulated juvenile oyster diversity and predator exposure (presence/absence of a cage) at two sites differing in resource availability and predation intensity. Differences in predation pressure between sites overwhelmingly determined post-settlement survivorship of oysters. However, in the absence of predation (i.e., cage treatment), one or both metrics of intraspecific diversity, in addition to site, influenced long-term survivorship, growth, and recruitment. While both cohort diversity and genetic relatedness were negatively associated with long-term survivorship, genetic relatedness alone showed a positive association with growth and cohort diversity alone showed a positive association with recruitment. Thus, our results demonstrate that in the absence of predation, intraspecific diversity can affect multiple demographic traits of a foundation species, but the relative importance of these effects depends on the environmental context. Moreover, the magnitude and direction of these effects vary depending on the diversity metric, cohort diversity or genetic relatedness, suggesting that although they are inversely related in this system, each captures sufficiently different components of intraspecific diversity. Given the global loss of oyster reef habitat and rapid decline in oyster population size, our results are particularly relevant to management and restoration. In addition, aquaculture, which commonly excludes predators during early life history stages, may benefit from incorporation of oyster cohort diversity into standard practice.

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“…Variation in larval dispersal and reproductive traits can affect the degree and scale of population genetic structure (Barbosa et al, 2013;Kamel, Hughes, Grosberg, & Stachowicz, 2012). For instance, various studies have shown that the absence (direct development) or the presence of a larval phase (indirect development)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fine‐scale hierarchical genetic structure and kinship analysis of the ascidianPyura chilensisin the southeastern Pacific

Morales-González

Giles

Quesada-Calderón

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Studying population structure and genetic diversity at fine spatial scales is key for a better understanding of demographic processes that influence population connectivity. This is particularly important in marine benthic organisms that rely on larval dispersal to maintain connectivity among populations. Here, we report the results of a genetic survey of the ascidian Pyura chilensis from three localities along the southeastern Pacific. This study follows up on a previous report that described a genetic break in this region among localities only 20 km apart. By implementing a hierarchical sampling design at four spatial levels and using ten polymorphic microsatellite markers, we test whether differences in fine‐scale population structure explain the previously reported genetic break. We compared genetic spatial autocorrelations, as well as kinship and relatedness distributions within and among localities adjacent to the genetic break. We found no evidence of significant autocorrelation at the scale up to 50 m despite the low dispersal potential of P. chilensis that has been reported in the literature. We also found that the proportion of related individuals in close proximity (<1 km) was higher than the proportion of related individuals further apart. These results were consistent in the three localities. Our results suggest that the spatial distribution of related individuals can be nonrandom at small spatial scales and suggests that dispersal might be occasionally limited in this species or that larval cohorts can disperse in the plankton as clustered groups. Overall, this study sheds light on new aspects of the life of this ascidian as well as confirms the presence of a genetic break at 39°S latitude. Also, our data indicate there is not enough evidence to confirm that this genetic break can be explained by differences in fine‐scale genetic patterns among localities.

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Fine-scale genetic structure and relatedness in the eelgrass Zostera marina

Cited by 46 publications

References 62 publications

Should we sync? Seascape‐level genetic and ecological factors determine seagrass flowering patterns

Should we sync? Seascape‐level genetic and ecological factors determine seagrass flowering patterns

Effects of intraspecific diversity on survivorship, growth, and recruitment of the eastern oyster across sites

Fine‐scale hierarchical genetic structure and kinship analysis of the ascidianPyura chilensisin the southeastern Pacific

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