Evidence for cohesive dispersal in the sea

PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e42672. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042672. Epub 2012 Sep 18.

Abstract

As with many marine species, the vast majority of coral-reef fishes have a bipartite life cycle consisting of a dispersive larval stage and a benthic adult stage. While the potentially far-reaching demographic and ecological consequences of marine dispersal are widely appreciated, little is known of the structure of the larval pool and of the dispersive process itself. Utilizing Palindrome Sequence Analysis of otolith micro-chemistry (PaSA;) we show that larvae of Neopomacentrus miryae (Pomacentridae) appear to remain in cohesive cohorts throughout their entire pelagic larval duration (PLD; ~28 days). Genetically, we found cohort members to be maternally (mtDNA) unrelated. While physical forcing cannot be negated as contributing to initial cohort formation, the small scale of the observed spatial structure suggests that some behavioral modification may be involved from a very early age. This study contributes to our ongoing re-evaluation of the processes that structure marine populations and communities and the spatial scales at which they operate.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animal Distribution*
  • Animals
  • Coral Reefs*
  • DNA, Mitochondrial
  • Ecosystem
  • Fishes* / classification
  • Fishes* / genetics
  • Oceans and Seas*
  • Phylogeny

Substances

  • DNA, Mitochondrial

Grants and funding

US-Israel Bi-National Science Foundation (BSF) URL: http://www.bsf.org.il/BSFPublic/Default.aspx The Red Sea Marine Peace Park (RSMPP) program of the US agency for international development URL: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Archive/Communiques/1997/BINATIONAL%20RED%20SEA%20MARINE%20PEACE%20PARK%20-%20Oct-97 Middle Eastern Regional Cooperation (USAID-MERC)URL:http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/merc/program_description.html. Boxenbaum–Neta Foundation URL (Hebrew): http://www.aev.co.il/default.asp?catid=%7B80DE5766-C4B6-4705-A1AA-CCBBA6CEC902%7D. Israel Science Foundation grant 283/06 URL: http://www.isf.org.il/. A. W. Mellon Foundation URL: http://www.mellon.org/. PISCO, the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans, funded by the David and Lucille Packard and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundations. URL: http://www.piscoweb.org/ The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.