Low clonal propagation in Atlantic and Mediterranean populations of the red gorgonian &lt;em&gt;Paramuricea clavata&lt;/em&gt; (Octocorallia)

Pilczynska, Joanna; Boavida, Joana; Cocito, Silvia; Lombardi, Chiara; Peirano, Andrea; Queiroga, Henrique

doi:10.3989/scimar.04473.05a

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…1; Table S1) by means of SCUBA diving. Atlantic samples were located between 12 m and 60 m depth, while those in the Mediterranean were between 20 m and 30 m. At each population, 10 cm apical branches were collected haphazardly from well-separated colonies to avoid clones, as the species can have asexual reproduction, though negligible (Coma, Zabala & Gili, 1995; Pilczynska et al, 2017). The branch tip from each colony was stored individually in plastic tube underwater and, after transportation to the lab, the samples were preserved in 96% ethanol until DNA extraction.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic diversity increases with depth in red gorgonian populations of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean

Pilczynska

Cocito

Boavida

et al. 2019

PeerJ

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Background In the ocean, the variability of environmental conditions found along depth gradients exposes populations to contrasting levels of perturbation, which can be reflected in the overall patterns of species genetic diversity. At shallow sites, resource availability may structure large, persistent and well-connected populations with higher levels of diversity. In contrast, the more extreme conditions, such as thermal stress during heat waves, can lead to population bottlenecks and genetic erosion, inverting the natural expectation. Here we examine how genetic diversity varies along depth for a long-lived, important ecosystem-structuring species, the red gorgonian, Paramuricea clavata. Methods We used five polymorphic microsatellite markers to infer differences in genetic diversity and differentiation, and to detect bottleneck signs between shallow and deeper populations across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. We further explored the potential relationship between depth and environmental gradients (temperature, ocean currents, productivity and slope) on the observed patterns of diversity by means of generalized linear mixed models. Results An overall pattern of higher genetic diversity was found in the deeper sites of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. This pattern was largely explained by bottom temperatures, with a linear pattern of decreasing genetic diversity with increasing thermal stress. Genetic differentiation patterns showed higher gene flow within sites (i.e., shallow vs. deeper populations) than between sites. Recent genetic bottlenecks were found in two populations of shallow depths. Discussion Our results highlight the role of deep refugial populations safeguarding higher and unique genetic diversity for marine structuring species. Theoretical regression modelling demonstrated how thermal stress alone may reduce population sizes and diversity levels of shallow water populations. In fact, the examination of time series on a daily basis showed the upper water masses repeatedly reaching lethal temperatures for P. clavata. Differentiation patterns showed that the deep richer populations are isolated. Gene flow was also inferred across different depths; however, not in sufficient levels to offset the detrimental effects of surface environmental conditions on genetic diversity. The identification of deep isolated areas with high conservation value for the red gorgonian represents an important step in the face of ongoing and future climate changes.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic diversity increases with depth in red gorgonian populations of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean

Pilczynska

Cocito

Boavida

et al. 2019

PeerJ

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“…Manuscript to be reviewed 2010, 2017;Smith et al, 2014). Similar to terrestrial elevational refugia, the stability of deep environments may be an important mechanism safeguarding regional genetic diversity for the species as a whole (Epps et al, 2006;Assis et al, 2016;Lourenço et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1; S1) by means of SCUBA diving. Atlantic samples were located between 12 m and 60 m depth, while those in the Mediterranean were between 20 m and 30 m. At each population, 10 cm apical branches were collected haphazardly from well-separated colonies to avoid clones, as the species can have asexual reproduction, though negligible (Coma, Zabala & Gili, 1995;Pilczynska et al, 2017).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Review #1 of "Genetic diversity increases with depth in red gorgonian populations of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean (v0.2)"

2019

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Background. In the ocean, the variability of environmental conditions found along depth gradients exposes populations to contrasting levels of perturbation, which can be reflected in the overall patterns of species genetic diversity. At shallow sites, resource availability may structure large, persistent and well-connected populations with higher levels of diversity. In contrast, the more extreme conditions, such as thermal stress during heat waves, can lead to population bottlenecks and genetic erosion, inverting the natural expectation. Here we examine how genetic diversity varies along depth for a long-lived, important ecosystem-structuring species, the red gorgonian, Paramuricea clavata. Methods. We used five polymorphic microsatellite markers to infer differences in genetic diversity and differentiation, and to detect bottleneck signs between shallow and deeper populations across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. We further explored the potential relationship between depth and environmental gradients (temperature, ocean currents, productivity and slope) on the observed patterns of diversity by means of generalized linear mixed models. Results. An overall pattern of higher genetic diversity was found in the deeper sites of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. This pattern was largely explained by bottom temperatures, with a linear pattern of decreasing genetic diversity with increasing thermal stress. Genetic differentiation patterns showed higher gene flow within sites (i.e., shallow vs. deeper populations) than between sites. Recent genetic bottlenecks were found in two populations of shallow depths. Discussion. Our results highlight the role of deep refugial populations safeguarding higher and unique genetic diversity for marine structuring species. Theoretical regression modelling demonstrated how thermal stress alone may reduce population sizes and diversity levels of shallow water populations. In fact, the examination of time series on a daily basis showed the upper water masses repeatedly reaching lethal temperatures for P. clavata. Differentiation patterns showed that the deep richer populations are isolated. Gene flow was also inferred across different depths, however, not in sufficient levels to offset the detrimental effects of surface environmental conditions on genetic diversity. The identification of deep isolated areas with high conservation value for the red gorgonian represents an important step in the face of ongoing and future climate changes.

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“…cf. grayi (Coma et al, 1995 ; Pilczynska, Boavida, et al, 2017 ). At each site, sample size varied from 12 (BAL) to 84 (CAT) individuals according to the species' density and decompression time constraints in deeper dives (Table S1 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not out of the Mediterranean: Atlantic populations of the gorgonian Paramuricea clavata are a separate sister species under further lineage diversification

Coelho

Pearson

Boavida

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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The accurate delimitation of species boundaries in nonbilaterian marine taxa is notoriously difficult, with consequences for many studies in ecology and evolution. Anthozoans are a diverse group of key structural organisms worldwide, but the lack of reliable morphological characters and informative genetic markers hampers our ability to understand species diversification. We investigated population differentiation and species limits in Atlantic (Iberian Peninsula) and Mediterranean lineages of the octocoral genus Paramuricea previously identified as P. clavata . We used a diverse set of molecular markers (microsatellites, RNA‐seq derived single‐copy orthologues [SCO] and mt‐mutS [mitochondrial barcode]) at 49 locations. Clear segregation of Atlantic and Mediterranean lineages was found with all markers. Species‐tree estimations based on SCO strongly supported these two clades as distinct, recently diverged sister species with incomplete lineage sorting, P. cf. grayi and P. clavata , respectively. Furthermore, a second putative (or ongoing) speciation event was detected in the Atlantic between two P. cf. grayi color morphotypes (yellow and purple) using SCO and supported by microsatellites. While segregating P. cf. grayi lineages showed considerable geographic structure, dominating circalittoral communities in southern (yellow) and western (purple) Portugal, their occurrence in sympatry at some localities suggests a degree of reproductive isolation. Overall, our results show that previous molecular and morphological studies have underestimated species diversity in Paramuricea occurring in the Iberian Peninsula, which has important implications for conservation planning. Finally, our findings validate the usefulness of phylotranscriptomics for resolving evolutionary relationships in octocorals.

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Low clonal propagation in Atlantic and Mediterranean populations of the red gorgonian <em>Paramuricea clavata</em> (Octocorallia)

Cited by 4 publications

References 41 publications

Genetic diversity increases with depth in red gorgonian populations of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean

Genetic diversity increases with depth in red gorgonian populations of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean

Peer Review #1 of "Genetic diversity increases with depth in red gorgonian populations of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean (v0.2)"

Not out of the Mediterranean: Atlantic populations of the gorgonian Paramuricea clavata are a separate sister species under further lineage diversification

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