Strong genetic structure among coral populations within a conservation priority region, the Bird's Head Seascape (Papua and West Papua, Indonesia)

, , , ,
1 Science & Technology Policy Fellowships, Center of Science, Policy & Society Programs, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC, USA
2 Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
3 Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
4 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
5 Indonesia Marine Program, Conservation International, Renon, Bali, Indonesia
6 Faculty of Animal Sciences, Fisheries and Marine Science, State University of Papua, Manokwari, West Papua, Indonesia
7 Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
8 Marine Conservation Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY, USA
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.25v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Conservation Biology, Ecology, Genetics, Marine Biology, Science Policy
Keywords
population genetics, marine protected areas, conservation genetics, coral reefs, Indonesia, Coral Triangle, biodiversity
Copyright
© 2013 Starger et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Cite this article
Starger CJ, Barber PH, Erdmann MV, Toha AHA, Baker AC. 2013. Strong genetic structure among coral populations within a conservation priority region, the Bird's Head Seascape (Papua and West Papua, Indonesia) PeerJ PrePrints 1:e25v1

Abstract

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are widely considered to be one of the best strategies available for protecting species diversity and ecosystem processes in marine environments, particularly in developing, tropical nations. While data on connectivity and genetic structure of marine populations are critical to designing appropriately sized and spaced networks of MPAs, such data are rarely available. Here we present an assessment of genetic structure in reef-building corals from Papua and West Papua, Indonesia, among the most biologically diverse and least disturbed coral reef regions in the world, and the focus of the multi-institutional Bird's Head Seascape initiative to design and implement a functional network of MPAs. Microsatellite variation was assessed within and among populations of Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus , 1758) and Seriatopora hystrix (Dana 1846) (family: Pocilloporidae) from three regions, each currently under a different conservation regime: Teluk Cenderawasih, Raja Ampat, and southwest Papua. Analyses of molecular variance, assignment tests, and genetical bandwidth mapping revealed significant local-scale structure in both species, and a lack of regional filters to gene flow. Overall, P. damicornis populations were less structured (FST = 0.139, p < 0.00001) than those of S. hystrix (FST = 0.357, p < 0.00001). In order to maintain connectivity within and among regions, coral reef conservation on the local scale is needed. These data have been directly applied to the design of a MPA network in the Bird’s Head Seascape.

Supplemental Information

The Bird’s Head region of West Papua, Indonesia

Sampling localities are shown as white circles. The solid black line delineates the border of Teluk Cenderawasih National Park.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.25v1/supp-1

Results from Bayesian assignment methods implemented in Structure and BAPS for Pocillopora damicornis

X indicates exclusion from BAPS analysis due to Ng = 6 or less. K = 2 and K = 6 were used as heuristics as described in the text.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.25v1/supp-2

Results from Bayesian assignment methods implemented in Structure and BAPS for Seriatopora hystrix

K = 2 and K = 11 were used as heuristics as described in the text.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.25v1/supp-3

Genetical Bandwidth Map for Pocillopora damicornis

Green areas indicate regions of genetic homogeneity. White areas indicate putative barriers to larval dispersal and are highlighted with blue dashed lines. The solid black line indicates the borders of Taman Nasional Teluk Cenderawasih.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.25v1/supp-4

Genetical Bandwidth Map for Seriatopora hystrix .

Green areas indicate regions of genetic homogeneity. White areas indicate putative barriers to larval dispersal and are highlighted with blue dashed lines. The solid black line indicates the borders of Taman Nasional Teluk Cenderawasih.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.25v1/supp-5

Sampling locations in Papua and West Papua, Indonesia

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.25v1/supp-6

Population statistics for Pocillopora damicornis

Give are the number of samples (N), number of unique genotypes (Ng), M value (M), its variance (M var), and BAPS cluster.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.25v1/supp-7

Population statistics for Seriatopora hystrix

Give are the number of samples (N), number of unique genotypes (Ng), M value (M), its variance (M var), and BAPS cluster.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.25v1/supp-8

Results from AMOVA for Pocillopora damicornis

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.25v1/supp-9

Results from AMOVA for Seriatopora hystrix

Four genetic structures are tested. “All samples” indicates that there was no hierarchical structure imposed. '3 regions' tests the significance of a priori geographic structure among Teluk Cenderawasih, Raja Ampat, and Fakfak/Kaimana. Finally, the structures inferred by BAPS and Genetical Bandwidth Mapping (GBM) are tested. Estimators are calculated based on both the infinite alleles model (F statistics) and stepwise mutation model (R statistics) of microsatellite evolution. Negative values are presented, but are effectively equal to zero.

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.25v1/supp-10