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Adaptive Divergence And Speciation Across Depth In A Caribbean Candelabrum Coral, Carlos Andrés Prada Montoya
Adaptive Divergence And Speciation Across Depth In A Caribbean Candelabrum Coral, Carlos Andrés Prada Montoya
LSU Doctoral Dissertations
Since Darwin, biologists wonder how organisms cope with environmental variation, why there are so many species, and how species form. In my dissertation, I explore how species of long-lived, clonal reef organisms originate across depth gradients. In Chapter 2, I evaluate the strength of depth to isolate populations by comparing the genes and morphologies of pairs of depth-segregated populations of the candelabrum coral Eunicea flexuosa across the Caribbean. Eunicea flexuosa is a long-lived clonal cnidarian that associates with an alga of the genus Symbiodinium. Genetic analysis revealed two depth-segregated lineages, each genetically well-mixed across the Caribbean. Survivorship data, combined with …
Model-Based Tests Of Historical Demography And Species Delimitation In The Caribbean Coral Reef Sponge Callyspongia, Melissa Barrett Debiasse
Model-Based Tests Of Historical Demography And Species Delimitation In The Caribbean Coral Reef Sponge Callyspongia, Melissa Barrett Debiasse
LSU Doctoral Dissertations
Coral reefs are the most productive and species rich ecosystems in the ocean yet we lack knowledge about the distribution of genetic variation the within and among reef species, particularly for the sponges (Porifera). My dissertation describes how genetic variation at mitochondrial and nuclear genes is partitioned among and within species in the sponge genus Callyspongia. I compared patterns of genetic diversity and population subdivision in the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of one species, C. vaginalis, in Florida (Chapter 2). Previous work revealed three divergent mitochondrial lineages, but nuclear alleles did not correspond to either mitochondrial clade or geography. Coalescent …