Surface microbial communities of reef-building corals

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Low contribution of Caribbean-based researchers to academic publications on biodiversity conservation in the insular Caribbean.

11 pagesInternational audienceThe insular Caribbean is among the most threatened global biodiversity hotspots, warranting urgent and effective action in conservation. However, the capacity of Caribbean-based researchers to address challenges in biodiversity conservation appears limited. To assess the latter, we used the contribution of Caribbean-based authors to the production of peer-reviewed journal papers on biodiversity conservation in the insular Caribbean as a proxy for research capacity. Moreover, because the insular Caribbean is a complex geopolitical system including sovereign states and overseas territories, we examined the contributions of these two groups to the number of papers published. We used the Web of Science Core collection to search for papers by combining the terms “Biodiversity” and/or “Conservation” with either “Carib*” or “Antill*” between 2000 and 2015. This procedure yielded 489 peer-reviewed papers in 145 scientific journals. Over the study period, only 36.6% of all papers included Caribbean-based authors, and Caribbean-based authors accounted for only 17.4% of yearly authorships per paper, with no increases over time. The proportion of papers with only Caribbean-based authors was small (8.0%), although the impact factors of the journals where these papers were published increased over time. Overall, Caribbean-based authors from overseas territories produced more papers than those from sovereign states, but this was mainly due to the large contribution of Puerto Rico. Despite facing similar biodiversity challenges, there was little research collaboration between overseas territories and sovereign states. Our results are a call to action to change the status quo in biodiversity research in one of the most biodiversity-rich regions of the world

Data from: Connectivity of Caribbean coral populations: complementary insights from empirical and modelled gene flow

Understanding patterns of connectivity among populations of marine organisms is essential for the development of realistic, spatially explicit models of population dynamics. Two approaches, theoretical and empirical population genetic models, have been used to estimate levels of evolutionary connectivity among marine populations but rarely have their potentially-complementary insights been combined. Here, a spatially-realistic Lagrangian model of larval dispersal and a theoretical genetic model are integrated with the most extensive study of gene flow in a Caribbean marine organism. The 871 genets collected from 26 sites spread over the wider Caribbean sub-sampled 45.8% of the 1900 potential unique genets in the model. At a coarse scale, significant consensus between modelled estimates of genetic structure and empirical genetic data for populations of the reef-building coral Montastraea annularis is observed. However, modelled and empirical data differ in their estimates of connectivity among northern Mesoamerican reefs indicating that processes other than dispersal may dominate here. Further, the geographic location and porosity of the previously described east-west barrier to gene flow in the Caribbean is refined. A multi-prong approach, integrating genetic data and spatially-realistic models of larval dispersal and genetic projection, provides complementary insights into the processes underpinning population connectivity in marine invertebrates on evolutionary timescales

Montastraea annularis microsatellite data

Genotype data for 6 microsatellite loci for 871 samples of Montastraea annularis collected from 26 sites across the wider Caribbean are provided. Montastraea samples were collected in the field between 2004 and 2008. Sample ID, region and site name are supplied for each individual. Column headings are detailed in the ReadMe file

Montastraea annularis microsatellite data

Genotype data for 6 microsatellite loci for 871 samples of Montastraea annularis collected from 26 sites across the wider Caribbean are provided. Montastraea samples were collected in the field between 2004 and 2008. Sample ID, region and site name are supplied for each individual. Column headings are detailed in the ReadMe file