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Estimating dispersal from genetic isolation by distance in a coral reef fish ( Hypoplectrus puella )
Author(s) -
Puebla Oscar,
Bermingham Eldredge,
Guichard Frédéric
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.1890/08-0859.1
Subject(s) - biological dispersal , ecology , seascape , genetic structure , population , metapopulation , coral reef fish , range (aeronautics) , geography , isolation by distance , coral reef , pelagic zone , reef , spatial ecology , biology , habitat , genetic diversity , materials science , demography , sociology , composite material
The spatial scale of dispersal in coral reef fishes eludes ecologists despite the importance of this parameter for understanding the dynamics of ecological and evolutionary processes. Genetic isolation by distance (IBD) has been used to estimate dispersal in coral reef fishes, but its application in marine systems has been limited by insufficient sampling at different spatial scales and a lack of information regarding population density. Here, we present an analysis of IBD in the barred hamlet ( Hypoplectrus puella , Serranidae) at spatial scales ranging from 10 to 3200 km complemented with SCUBA surveys of population densities covering 94 000 m 2 of reef. We used 10 hypervariable DNA markers to genotype 854 fish from 15 locations, and our results establish that IBD in H. puella emerges at a spatial scale of 175 km and is preserved up to the regional scale (3200 km). Assuming a normal or a Laplace dispersal function, our data are consistent with mean dispersal distances in H. puella that range between 2 and 14 km. Such small mean dispersal distances is a surprising result given the three‐week pelagic larval duration of H. puella and the low level of genetic structure at the Caribbean scale (Wright's fixation index, F ST , estimate = 0.005). Our data reinforce the importance of considering population density when estimating dispersal from IBD and underscore the relevance of sampling at local scales, even when genetic structure is weak at the regional scale.