Implementation of an Interprofessional Clinic Education Program at an Integrative Medical Clinic in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

D.N.P

Ecomorph or Endangered Coral? DNA and Microstructure Reveal Hawaiian Species Complexes: Montipora dilatata/flabellata/turgescens & M. patula/verrilli

M. dilatata, M. flabellata, and M. patula and 80 other scleractinian corals were petitioned to be listed under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA), which would have major conservation implications. One of the difficulties with this evaluation is that reproductive boundaries between morphologically defined coral species are often permeable, and morphology can be wildly variable. We examined genetic and morphological variation in Hawaiian Montipora with a suite of molecular markers (mitochondrial: COI, CR, Cyt-B, 16S, ATP6; nuclear: ATPsβ, ITS) and microscopic skeletal measurements. Mitochondrial markers and the ITS region revealed four distinct clades: I) M. patula/M. verrilli, II) M. cf. incrassata, III) M. capitata, IV) M. dilatata/M. flabellata/M. cf. turgescens. These clades are likely to occur outside of Hawai'i according to mitochondrial control region haplotypes from previous studies. The ATPsβ intron data showed a pattern often interpreted as resulting from hybridization and introgression; however, incomplete lineage sorting may be more likely since the multicopy nuclear ITS region was consistent with the mitochondrial data. Furthermore, principal components analysis (PCA) of skeletal microstructure was concordant with the mitochondrial clades, while nominal taxa overlapped. The size and shape of verrucae or papillae contributed most to identifying groups, while colony-level morphology was highly variable. It is not yet clear if these species complexes represent population-level variation or incipient speciation (CA<1MYA), two alternatives that have very different conservation implications. This study highlights the difficulty in understanding the scale of genetic and morphological variation that corresponds to species as opposed to population-level variation, information that is essential for conservation and for understanding coral biodiversity

A Taxonomic Survey of Saudi Arabian Red Sea Octocorals (Cnidaria: Alcyonacea)

A preliminary survey of Saudi Arabian Alcyonacea is presented, which combines classical taxonomy, multilocus molecular barcodes, and in situ photographs. We explored 14 locations along the west coast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to assess the regional taxonomic diversity of non-gorgonian alcyonaceans. We collected samples from a total of 74 colonies, distributed among four families: 18 colonies of Alcyoniidae, 14 of Nephtheidae, 9 of Tubiporidae, and 33 of Xeniidae. We sequenced the octocorals using multiple nuclear [ribosomal Internal Transcribed Spacers (ITS) and ATP Synthetase Subunit α (ATPSα)] and mitochondrial [MutS homolog (mtMutS) and Cytochrome C Oxidase subunit one (COI)] loci, providing molecular barcodes which will: (1) allow direct comparison of biodiversity from this location to others for which molecular data are available, and (2) facilitate future identifications of these taxa. Finally, this preliminary phylogeny of sampled taxa provides insights on the resolution of mitochondrial versus nuclear loci, and highlights octocoral taxa that require further taxonomic attention