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Nine novel, polymorphic microsatellite markers for the study of threatened Caribbean acroporid corals
Author(s) -
BAUMS I. B.,
DEVLINDURANTE M. K.,
BROWN L.,
PINZÓN J. H.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
molecular ecology resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.96
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1755-0998
pISSN - 1755-098X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02581.x
Subject(s) - biology , threatened species , microsatellite , acropora , population , gene flow , genus , ecology , evolutionary biology , zoology , reef , genetic variation , genetics , allele , gene , demography , sociology , habitat
Caribbean reef‐building corals in the genus Acropora have been declining dramatically since the 1980s and are now listed as threatened. The study of their complex reproductive system (mixed asexual and sexual) and their population structure requires highly polymorphic nuclear genetic markers. Of eight previously developed microsatellite loci for A. palmata , only five behaved in a Mendelian fashion and only four reliably amplified the sister species, A. cervicornis. Here, nine novel microsatellite markers are presented that dramatically increase the power to distinguish between asexual and sexual reproductive events and may help to refine population boundaries and gene flow across their ranges.