Living in the Past: Phylogeography and Population Histories of Indo-Pacific Wrasses (Genus Halichoeres) in Shallow Lagoons versus Outer Reef Slopes

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 7; no. 6; p. e38042
• Main Authors: Ludt, William B., Bernal, Moisés A., Bowen, Brian W., Rocha, Luiz A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 06.06.2012; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Acanthurus nigrofuscus; Acanthurus nigroris; Animals; Base Sequence; Biodiversity; Biogeography; Biology; Biota; Bivalvia; Connectivity; Continental shelves; Coral reef ecosystems; Coral reef habitats; Coral Reefs; Cytochrome; Cytochrome oxidase I; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA Primers; DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics; Earth Sciences; Ecosystem; Ecosystem biology; Ecosystems; Fish; Fisheries; Fishes; Fishing; Fluctuations; Genetic diversity; Genetic Markers - genetics; Genetic Variation; Genetics, Population; Habitats; Halichoeres margaritaceus; Halichoeres ornatissimus; Halichoeres trimaculatus; Haplotypes; Haplotypes - genetics; Labridae; Lagoons; Likelihood Functions; Lutjanidae; Lutjanus; Marine biology; Mitochondria; Models, Genetic; Molecular Sequence Data; Muraenidae; Natural resources; Oceanic islands; Oceans; Oxidases; Pacific Ocean; Perciformes - genetics; Perciformes - physiology; Phylogeography; Pleistocene; Population; Population growth; Population structure; Refugia; Sea level; Sea level fluctuations; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Slopes; Species; Species diversity; Species Specificity; Studies; Pacific Ocean; Hawaii; United States > US; Texas; French Polynesia
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0038042

Sea level fluctuations during glacial cycles affect the distribution of shallow marine biota, exposing the continental shelf on a global scale, and displacing coral reef habitat to steep slopes on oceanic islands. In these circumstances we expect that species inhabiting lagoons should show shallow genetic architecture relative to species inhabiting more stable outer reefs. Here we test this expectation on an ocean-basin scale with four wrasses (genus Halichoeres): H. claudia (N = 194, with ocean-wide distribution) and H. ornatissimus (N = 346, a Hawaiian endemic) inhabit seaward reef slopes, whereas H. trimaculatus (N = 239) and H. margaritaceus (N = 118) inhabit lagoons and shallow habitats throughout the Pacific. Two mitochondrial markers (cytochrome oxidase I and control region) were sequenced to resolve population structure and history of each species. Haplotype and nucleotide diversity were similar among all four species. The outer reef species showed significantly less population structure, consistent with longer pelagic larval durations. Mismatch distributions and significant negative Fu's F values indicate Pleistocene population expansion for all species, and (contrary to expectations) shallower histories in the outer slope species. We conclude that lagoonal wrasses may persist through glacial habitat disruptions, but are restricted to refugia during lower sea level stands. In contrast, outer reef slope species have homogeneous and well-connected populations through their entire ranges regardless of sea level fluctuations. These findings contradict the hypothesis that shallow species are less genetically diverse as a consequence of glacial cycles.