Genetic and demographic variation in new recruits of Naso unicornis

Abstract

Demographic data showed that larvae of Naso unicornis colonizing the reefs of Moorea, French Polynesia, on the same night within a restricted area originated from several spawning events that occurred 67 to 94 days previously. Based on the demographic structure of larvae of N. unicornis colonizing the reef, it cannot be entirely dismissed that siblings colonize together because five spawning dates grouped c. 55% of the captured larvae. Relatedness analysis reinforced these observations and also confirmed that larvae colonizing together were not all siblings. Larvae of the same spawning dates, however, appeared related in some age-classes (72, 74 and 77 days old), suggesting that siblings recruited together. In addition, the larvae appeared genetically different from adults (P=0·002) and juveniles (P<0·001) while juveniles and adults were similar (P=0·100). The variations in allelic and genotypic frequencies in the larvae probably reflect a family-structure that is diluted once larvae are recruited into the lagoon because of high mortality and active movement of fish.

RETRACTED: Long-term aggregation of larval fish siblings during dispersal along an open coast

“…However, disentangling the mechanisms that drive dispersal patterns across larger spatial and temporal scales has been more elusive. Evidence of sibling corecruitment (when siblings are detected simultaneously as newly settled recruits in the same local habitat) has only been found in species inhabiting relatively retentive systems (semienclosed bays, estuaries, and coral reef lagoons), or in species with relatively short (11-36 d) pelagic larval durations (12)(13)(14)(15)(16). In some of these examples, high rates of retention near the natal habitat inherently increase the abundance of related individuals at a particular location.…”

Combined analyses of kinship and FST suggest potential drivers of chaotic genetic patchiness in high gene‐flow populations

“…Previous kinship analyses have detected high levels of relatedness within cohorts of larval recruits in both fishes (Planes et al . ; Pujolar et al . ; Selkoe et al .…”

Moderate genetic drift is driven by extreme recruitment events in the invasive mollusk Crepidula fornicata

“…Estimating effective size is challenging in marine species with larval dispersal and large population sizes because of the risks of sampling bias and long-distance immigration from distant populations. Investigating SRS should thus not only include estimating N e /N c ratios, but also investigate all of its other predictions such as higher relatedness within larval cohorts (see, for example, Planes et al, 2002) that require temporal sampling at different stages of the life cycle, particularly between parents and their offspring before dispersal.…”