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Out of Their Depth? Isolated Deep Populations of the Cosmopolitan Coral Desmophyllum dianthus may be Highly Vulnerable to Environmental Change
Citation
Miller, KJ and Rowden, AA and Williams, A and Haussermann, V, Out of Their Depth? Isolated Deep Populations of the Cosmopolitan Coral Desmophyllum dianthus may be Highly Vulnerable to Environmental Change, PLoS ONE, 6, (5) pp. e19004. ISSN 1932-6203 (2011) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic (CC BY 2.5) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
DOI: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0019004
Abstract
Deep sea scleractinian corals will be particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, facing loss of up to 70% of their
habitat as the Aragonite Saturation Horizon (below which corals are unable to form calcium carbonate skeletons) rises.
Persistence of deep sea scleractinian corals will therefore rely on the ability of larvae to disperse to, and colonise, suitable
shallow-water habitat. We used DNA sequence data of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the mitochondrial ribosomal
subunit (16S) and mitochondrial control region (MtC) to determine levels of gene flow both within and among populations
of the deep sea coral Desmophyllum dianthus in SE Australia, New Zealand and Chile to assess the ability of corals to
disperse into different regions and habitats. We found significant genetic subdivision among the three widely separated
geographic regions consistent with isolation and limited contemporary gene flow. Furthermore, corals from different depth
strata (shallow ,600 m, mid 10001500 m, deep .1500 m) even on the same or nearby seamounts were strongly
differentiated, indicating limited vertical larval dispersal. Genetic differentiation with depth is consistent with the
stratification of the Subantarctic Mode Water, Antarctic Intermediate Water, the Circumpolar Deep and North Pacific Deep
Waters in the Southern Ocean, and we propose that coral larvae will be retained within, and rarely migrate among, these
water masses. The apparent absence of vertical larval dispersal suggests deep populations of D. dianthus are unlikely to
colonise shallow water as the aragonite saturation horizon rises and deep waters become uninhabitable. Similarly,
assumptions that deep populations will act as refuges for shallow populations that are impacted by activities such as fishing
or mining are also unlikely to hold true. Clearly future environmental management strategies must consider both regional
and depth-related isolation of deep-sea coral populations.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Ecology |
Research Field: | Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) |
Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
Objective Group: | Marine systems and management |
Objective Field: | Marine biodiversity |
UTAS Author: | Miller, KJ (Dr Karen Miller) |
ID Code: | 76061 |
Year Published: | 2011 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 29 |
Deposited By: | IMAS Research and Education Centre |
Deposited On: | 2012-02-26 |
Last Modified: | 2012-06-21 |
Downloads: | 357 View Download Statistics |
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