Unexpected Fine-Scale Population Structure in a Broadcast-Spawning Antarctic Marine Mollusc

Several recent empirical studies have challenged the prevailing dogma that broadcast-spawning species exhibit little or no population genetic structure by documenting genetic discontinuities associated with large-scale oceanographic features. However, relatively few studies have explored patterns of genetic differentiation over fine spatial scales. Consequently, we used a hierarchical sampling design to investigate the basis of a weak but significant genetic difference previously reported between Antarctic limpets (Nacella concinna) sampled from Adelaide and Galindez Islands near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. Three sites within Ryder Bay, Adelaide Island (Rothera Point, Leonie and Anchorage Islands) were each sub-sampled three times, yielding a total of 405 samples that were genotyped at 155 informative Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs). Contrary to our initial expectations, limpets from Anchorage Island were found to be subtly, but significantly distinct from those sampled from the other sites. This suggests that local processes may play an important role in generating fine-scale population structure even in species with excellent dispersal capabilities, and highlights the importance of sampling at multiple spatial scales in population genetic surveys

Hierarchical Population Genetic Structure in a Direct Developing Antarctic Marine Invertebrate

Hoffman J, Clarke A, Clark MS, Peck LS. Hierarchical Population Genetic Structure in a Direct Developing Antarctic Marine Invertebrate. PLoS ONE. 2013;8(5): e63954.Understanding the relationship between life-history variation and population structure in marine invertebrates is not straightforward. This is particularly true of polar species due to the difficulty of obtaining samples and a paucity of genomic resources from which to develop nuclear genetic markers. Such knowledge, however, is essential for understanding how different taxa may respond to climate change in the most rapidly warming regions of the planet. We therefore used over two hundred polymorphic Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs) to explore population connectivity at three hierachical spatial scales in the direct developing Antarctic topshell Margarella antarctica. To previously published data from five populations spanning a 1500 km transect along the length of the Western Antarctic Peninsula, we added new AFLP data for four populations separated by up to 6 km within Ryder Bay, Adelaide Island. Overall, we found a nonlinear isolation-by-distance pattern, suggestive of weaker population structure within Ryder Bay than is present over larger spatial scales. Nevertheless, significantly positive Fst values were obtained in all but two of ten pairwise population comparisons within the bay following Bonferroni correction for multiple tests. This is in contrast to a previous study of the broadcast spawner Nacella concinna that found no significant genetic differences among several of the same sites. By implication, the topshell's direct-developing lifestyle may constrain its ability to disperse even over relatively small geographic scales