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Abstract Degradation and loss of coral reefs due to climate change and other anthropogenic stressors has fueled genomics, proteomics, and genetics research to investigate coral stress response pathways and to identify resilient species, genotypes, and populations to restore these biodiverse ecosystems. Much of the research and conservation effort has understandably focused on the most taxonomically rich regions, such as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Coral Triangle in the western Pacific. These ecosystems are analogous to tropical rainforests that also house enormous biodiversity and complex biotic interactions among different trophic levels. An alternative model ecosystem for studying coral reef biology is the relatively species poor but abundant coral reefs in the Hawaiian Archipelago that exist at the northern edge of the Indo‐Pacific coral distribution. The Hawaiian Islands are the world's most isolated archipelago, geographically isolated from other Pacific reef systems. This region houses about 80 species of scleractinian corals in three dominant genera (Porites,Montipora, andPocillopora). Here we briefly review knowledge about the Hawaiian coral fauna with a focus on our model species, the rice coralMontipora capitata. We suggest that this simpler, relatively isolated reef system provides an ideal platform for advancing coral biology and conservation using multi‐omics and genetic tools.
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Genetic structuring and species boundaries in the Atlantic stony coral Favia (Scleractinia, Faviidae)
Abstract Scleractinian corals are the main modern builders of coral reefs, which are major hot spots of marine biodiversity. Southern Atlantic reef corals are understudied compared to their Caribbean and Indo‐Pacific counterparts and many hypotheses about their population dynamics demand further testing. We employed thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) recovered via ezRAD to characterize genetic population structuring and species boundaries in the amphi‐Atlantic hard coral genusFavia. Coalescent‐based species delimitation (BFD* – Bayes Factor Delimitation) recoveredF. fragumandF. gravidaas separate species. Although our results agree with depth‐related genetic structuring inF. fragum, they did not support incipient speciation of the ‘tall’ and ‘short’ morphotypes. The preferred scenario also revealed a split between two main lineages ofF. gravida, one from Ascension Island and the other from Brazil. The Brazilian lineage is further divided into a species that occurs throughout the Northeastern coast and another that ranges from the Abrolhos Archipelago to the state of Espírito Santo. BFD* scenarios were corroborated by analyses of SNP matrices with varying levels of missing data and by a speciation‐based delimitation approach (DELINEATE). Our results challenge current notions about Atlantic reef corals because they uncovered surprising genetic diversity inFaviaand rejected the long‐standing hypothesis that Abrolhos Archipelago may have served as a Pleistocenic refuge during the last glaciations.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1924604
- PAR ID:
- 10498884
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Zoologica Scripta
- Volume:
- 53
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0300-3256
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 376-394
- Size(s):
- p. 376-394
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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