Biology Commons^™

Beneficial Use Decision Support For Wetlands: Case Study For Mobile Bay, Alabama, Kyle D. Runion, Brandon M. Boyd, Candice D. Piercy, James T. Morris

Faculty Publications

The beneficial use of dredged material (BUDM) for wetland restoration improves coastal wetland resilience and conserves coastal natural infrastructure. Tools, such as biophysical models help coastal managers to assess habitat vulnerability and plan restoration. In this study, the Marsh Equilibrium Model (MEM) will be utilized combined with observed data to predict future conditions and evaluate potential marsh restoration via the BUDM in Mobile Bay, Alabama. A range of site conditions and restoration strategies will be considered and the impacts on dredged material management area (DMMA) volumes will be evaluated. Wetland restoration via thin-layer placement (TLP) of dredged material (DM) restores …

Genomic Gc Content Drifts Downward In Most Bacterial Genomes, Ely Bert

Faculty Publications

In every kingdom of life, GC->AT transitions occur more frequently than any other type of mutation due to the spontaneous deamination of cytidine. In eukaryotic genomes, this slow loss of GC base pairs is counteracted by biased gene conversion which increases genomic GC content as part of the recombination process. However, this type of biased gene conversion has not been observed in bacterial genomes, so we hypothesized that GC->AT transitions cause a reduction of genomic GC content in prokaryotic genomes on an evolutionary time scale. To test this hypothesis, we used a phylogenetic approach to analyze triplets of …

Genomic Gc Content Drifts Downward In Most Bacterial Genomes, Bert Ely

Faculty Publications

In every kingdom of life, GC->AT transitions occur more frequently than any other type of mutation due to the spontaneous deamination of cytidine. In eukaryotic genomes, this slow loss of GC base pairs is counteracted by biased gene conversion which increases genomic GC content as part of the recombination process. However, this type of biased gene conversion has not been observed in bacterial genomes, so we hypothesized that GC->AT transitions cause a reduction of genomic GC content in prokaryotic genomes on an evolutionary time scale. To test this hypothesis, we used a phylogenetic approach to analyze triplets of …

The Impact Of Aquaculture On The Genetics And Distribution Of The Onuphid Annelid Diopatra Biscayensis, Matthew P. Galaska, David S. Wethey, Andrés Arias, Stanislas F. Dubois, Kenneth M. Halanych, Sarah A. Woodin

Faculty Publications

Aim

Evolutionary history of natural populations can be confounded by human intervention such as the case of decorator worm species Diopatra (Onuphidae), which have a history of being transported through anthropogenic activities. Because they build tubes and act as ecosystem engineers, they can have a large impact on the overall ecosystem in which they occur. One conspicuous member, Diopatra biscayensis, which was only described in 2012, has a fragmented distribution that includes the Bay of Biscay and the Normanno-Breton Gulf in the English Channel. This study explores the origin of these worms in the Normanno-Breton region, which has been …

The Impact Of Aquaculture On The Genetics And Distribution Of The Onuphid Annelid Diopatra Biscayensis, Matthew P. Galaska, David S. Wethey, Andrés Arias, Stanislas F. Dubios, Kenneth M. Halanych, Sarah A. Woodin

Faculty Publications

Aim

Evolutionary history of natural populations can be confounded by human intervention such as the case of decorator worm species Diopatra (Onuphidae), which have a history of being transported through anthropogenic activities. Because they build tubes and act as ecosystem engineers, they can have a large impact on the overall ecosystem in which they occur. One conspicuous member, Diopatra biscayensis, which was only described in 2012, has a fragmented distribution that includes the Bay of Biscay and the Normanno-Breton Gulf in the English Channel. This study explores the origin of these worms in the Normanno-Breton region, which has been …

Comparable Response Of Wild Rodent Gut Microbiome To Anthropogenic Habitat Contamination, Anton Lavrinienko, Ann Hämäläinen, Rasmus Hindstrom, Eugene Tukalenko, Zbyszek Boratynski, Kati Kivisaari, Timothy Mousseau, Phillip C. Watts, Tapio Mappes

Faculty Publications

Species identity is thought to dominate over environment in shaping wild rodent gut microbiota, but it remains unknown whether the responses of host gut microbiota to shared anthropogenic habitat impacts are species-specific or if the general gut microbiota response is similar across host species. Here, we compare the influence of exposure to radionuclide contamination on the gut microbiota of four wild mouse species: Apodemus flavicollis, A. sylvaticus, A. speciosus and A. argenteus. Building on the evidence that radiation impacts bank vole (Myodes glareolus) gut microbiota, we hypothesized that radiation exposure has a general impact on rodent gut microbiota. Because we …

The Malina Oceanographic Expedition: How Do Changes In Ice Cover, Permafrost And Uv Radiation Impact Biodiversity And Biogeochemical Fluxes In The Arctic Ocean?, Philippe Massicotte, Rainer M.W. Amon, Antoine David, Sergio Balzano, Simon Bélanger, Ronald Benner, Dominique Boeuf, Annick Bricaud, Flavienne Bruyant, Gwenaëlle Chaillou, Malik Chami, Bruno Charrière, Jing Chen, Hervé Claustre, Pierre Coupel, Nicole Delsaut, David Doxaran, Jens Ehn, Cédric Fichot, Marie-Hélène Forget, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

The MALINA oceanographic campaign was conducted during summer 2009 to investigate the carbon stocks and the processes controlling the carbon fluxes in the Mackenzie River estuary and the Beaufort Sea. During the campaign, an extensive suite of physical, chemical and biological variables were measured across seven shelf-basin transects (south-north) to capture the meridional gradient between the estuary and the open ocean. Key variables such as temperature, absolute salinity, radiance, irradiance, nutrient concentrations, chlorophyll a concentration, bacteria, phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance and taxonomy, and carbon stocks and fluxes were routinely measured onboard the Canadian research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen and from a …

Protocols For Assessing Transformation Rates Of Nitrous Oxide In The Water Column, Annie Bourbonnais, Claudia Frey, Xin Sun, Laura A. Bristow, Amal Jayakumar, Nathaniel E. Ostrom, Karen L. Casciotti, Bess B. Ward

Faculty Publications

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas and an ozone destroying substance. Yet, clear step-by-step protocols to measure N2O transformation rates in freshwater and marine environments are still lacking, challenging inter-comparability efforts. Here we present detailed protocols currently used by leading experts in the field to measure water-column N2O production and consumption rates in both marine and other aquatic environments. We present example 15N-tracer incubation experiments in marine environments as well as templates to calculate both N2O production and consumption rates. We discuss important considerations and recommendations regarding (1) precautions to prevent oxygen (O2) contamination during low-oxygen and anoxic …

Genes Related To Redox And Cell Curvature Facilitate Interactions Between Caulobacter Strains And Arabidopsis, Louis Berrios, Bert Ely

Faculty Publications

Bacteria play an integral role in shaping plant growth and development. However, the genetic factors that facilitate plant-bacteria interactions remain largely unknown. Here, we demonstrated the importance of two bacterial genetic factors that facilitate the interactions between plant-growth-promoting (PGP) bacteria in the genus Caulobacter and the host plant Arabidopsis. Using homologous recombination, we disrupted the cytochrome ubiquinol oxidase (cyo) operon in both C. vibrioides CB13 and C. segnis TK0059 by knocking out the expression of cyoB (critical subunit of the cyo operon) and showed that the mutant strains were unable to enhance the growth of Arabidopsis. In addition, disruption of …

What Is Refractory Organic Matter In The Ocean?, Federico Baltar, Xosé A. Alvarez-Salgado, Javier Arístegui, Ronald Benner, Dennis A. Hansell, Gerhard J. Herndl, Christian Lønborg

Faculty Publications

About 20% of the organic carbon produced in the sunlit surface ocean is transported into the ocean’s interior as dissolved, suspended and sinking particles to be mineralized and sequestered as dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), sedimentary particulate organic carbon (POC) or “refractory” dissolved organic carbon (rDOC). Recently, the physical and biological mechanisms associated with the particle pumps have been revisited, suggesting that accepted fluxes might be severely underestimated (Boyd et al., 2019; Buesseler et al., 2020). Perhaps even more poorly understood are the mechanisms driving rDOC production and its potential accumulation in the ocean. On the basis of …

Activating Mutations In Braf Disrupt The Hypothalamo-Pituitary Axis Leading To Hypopituitarism In Mice And Humans, Angelica Gualtieri, Nikolina Kyprianou, Louise C. Gregory, Maria Lillina Vignola, James G. Nicholson, Rachael Tan, Shin-Ichi Inoue, Valeria Scagliotti, Pedro Casado, James Blackburn, Fernando Abollo-Jimenez, Eugenia Marinelli, Rachael E.J. Besser, Wolfgang Högler, I. Karen Temple, Justin H. Davies, Andrey Gagunashvili, Iain C.A.F. Robinson, Sally A. Camper, Shannon W. Davis, Pedro R. Cutillas, Evelien F. Gevers, Yoko Aoki, Mehul T. Dattani, Carles Gaston-Massuet

Faculty Publications

Germline mutations in BRAF and other components of the MAPK pathway are associated with the congenital syndromes collectively known as RASopathies. Here, we report the association of Septo-Optic Dysplasia (SOD) including hypopituitarism and Cardio-Facio-Cutaneous (CFC) syndrome in patients harbouring mutations in BRAF. Phosphoproteomic analyses demonstrate that these genetic variants are gain-of-function mutations leading to activation of the MAPK pathway. Activation of the MAPK pathway by conditional expression of the Braf^V600E/+ allele, or the knock-in Braf^Q241R/+ allele (corresponding to the most frequent human CFC-causing mutation, BRAF p.Q257R), leads to abnormal cell lineage determination and terminal differentiation of …

What Is Refractory Organic Matter In The Ocean?, Federico Baltar, Xosé A. Alvarez-Salgado, Javier Arístegui, Ronald Benner, Dennis A. Hansell, Gerhard J. Herndl, Christian Lønborg

Faculty Publications

About 20% of the organic carbon produced in the sunlit surface ocean is transported into the ocean’s interior as dissolved, suspended and sinking particles to be mineralized and sequestered as dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), sedimentary particulate organic carbon (POC) or “refractory” dissolved organic carbon (rDOC). Recently, the physical and biological mechanisms associated with the particle pumps have been revisited, suggesting that accepted fluxes might be severely underestimated (Boyd et al., 2019; Buesseler et al., 2020). Perhaps even more poorly understood are the mechanisms driving rDOC production and its potential accumulation in the ocean. On the basis of …

Genes Related To Redox And Cell Curvature Facilitate Interactions Between Caulobacter Strains And Arabidopsis, Louis Berrios, Bert Ely

Faculty Publications

Bacteria play an integral role in shaping plant growth and development. However, the genetic factors that facilitate plant-bacteria interactions remain largely unknown. Here, we demonstrated the importance of two bacterial genetic factors that facilitate the interactions between plant-growth-promoting (PGP) bacteria in the genus Caulobacter and the host plant Arabidopsis. Using homologous recombination, we disrupted the cytochrome ubiquinol oxidase (cyo) operon in both C. vibrioides CB13 and C. segnis TK0059 by knocking out the expression of cyoB (critical subunit of the cyo operon) and showed that the mutant strains were unable to enhance the growth of …

A Survey Of Compound Heterozygous Variants In Pediatric Cancers And Structural Birth Defects, Dustin B. Miller, Stephen R. Piccolo

Faculty Publications

Compound heterozygous (CH) variants occur when two recessive alleles are inherited and the variants are located at different loci within the same gene in a given individual. CH variants are important contributors to many different types of recessively inherited diseases. However, many studies overlook CH variants because identification of this type of variant requires knowing the parent of origin for each nucleotide. Using computational methods, haplotypes can be inferred using a process called “phasing,” which estimates the chromosomal origin of most nucleotides. In this paper, we used germline, phased, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data to identify CH variants across seven pediatric …

Diversity And N2o Production Potential Of Fungi In An Oceanic Oxygen Minimum Zone, Xuefeng Peng, David L. Valentine

Faculty Publications

Fungi in terrestrial environments are known to play a key role in carbon and nitrogen biogeochemistry and exhibit high diversity. In contrast, the diversity and function of fungi in the ocean has remained underexplored and largely neglected. In the eastern tropical North Pacific oxygen minimum zone, we examined the fungal diversity by sequencing the internal transcribed spacer region 2 (ITS2) and mining a metagenome dataset collected from the same region. Additionally, we coupled ¹⁵N-tracer experiments with a selective inhibition method to determine the potential contribution of marine fungi to nitrous oxide (N₂O) production. Fungal communities evaluated by …

Compoundhetvip: Compound Heterozygous Variant Identification Pipeline, Dustin B. Miller, Stephen R. Picollo

Faculty Publications

Compound Heterozygous ( CH) variant identification requires distinguishing maternally from paternally derived nucleotides, a process that requires numerous computational tools. Using such tools often introduces unforeseen challenges such as installation procedures that are operating-system specific, software dependencies that must be installed, and formatting requirements for input files. To overcome these challenges, we developed Compound Heterozygous Variant Identification Pipeline (CompoundHetVIP), which uses a single Docker image to encapsulate commonly used software tools for file aggregation ( BCFtools or GATK4), VCF liftover ( Picard Tools), joint-genotyping ( GATK4), file conversion ( Plink2), phasing ( SHAPEIT2, Beagle …

Biophysical Characteristics Of Lipid-Induced Aβ Oligomers Correlate To Distinctive Phenotypes In Transgenic Mice, Jhinuk Saha, Dexter N. Dean, Shailendra Dhakal, Kelli A. Stockmal, Sarah E. Morgan, Kristy D. Dillon, Munir F. Adamo, Yona Levites, Vijayaraghavan Rangachari

Faculty Publications

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects cognition and memory. Recent advances have helped identify many clinical sub-types in AD. Mounting evidence point toward structural polymorphism among fibrillar aggregates of amyloid-β (Aβ) to being responsible for the phenotypes and clinical manifestations. In the emerging paradigm of polymorphism and prion-like propagation of aggregates in AD, the role of low molecular weight soluble oligomers, which are long known to be the primary toxic agents, in effecting phenotypes remains inconspicuous. In this study, we present the characterization of three soluble oligomers of Aβ42, namely 14LPOs, 16LPOs, and GM1Os with discreet …

Topsentinol L Trisulfate, A Marine Natural Product That Targets Basal-Like And Claudin-Low Breast Cancers, Nader N. El-Chaar, Thomas E. Smith, Gajendra Shrestha, Stephen R. Piccolo, Mary Kay Harper, Ryan M. Van Wagoner, Zhenyu Lu, Ashlee R. Venancio, Chris M. Ireland, Andrea H. Bild, Philip J. Moos

Faculty Publications

Patients diagnosed with basal-like breast cancer suffer from poor prognosis and limited treatment options. There is an urgent need to identify new targets that can benefit patients with basal-like and claudin-low (BL-CL) breast cancers. We screened fractions from our Marine Invertebrate Compound Library (MICL) to identify compounds that specifically target BL-CL breast cancers. We identified a previously unreported trisulfated sterol, i.e., topsentinol L trisulfate (TLT), which exhibited increased efficacy against BL-CL breast cancers relative to luminal/HER2+ breast cancer. Biochemical investigation of the effects of TLT on BL-CL cell lines revealed its ability to inhibit activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) …

Propranolol Sensitizes Vascular Sarcoma Cells To Doxorubicin By Altering Lysosomal Drug Sequestration And Drug Efflux, Jhuma Saha, Jong Hyuk Kim, Clarissa N. Amaya, Caleb M. Witcher, Ali Khammanivong, Derek M. Korpela, David R. Brown, Josephine Taylor, Brad A. Bryan, Erin B. Dickerson

Faculty Publications

Angiosarcoma is a rare cancer of blood vessel–forming cells with a high patient mortality and few treatment options. Although chemotherapy often produces initial clinical responses, outcomes remain poor, largely due to the development of drug resistance. We previously identified a subset of doxorubicin-resistant cells in human angiosarcoma and canine hemangiosarcoma cell lines that exhibit high lysosomal accumulation of doxorubicin. Hydrophobic, weak base chemotherapeutics, like doxorubicin, are known to sequester within lysosomes, promoting resistance by limiting drug accessibility to cellular targets. Drug synergy between the beta adrenergic receptor (β-AR) antagonist, propranolol, and multiple chemotherapeutics has been documented in vitro, and …

The Iron-Responsive Genome Of The Chiton Acanthopleura Granulata, Rebecca M. Varney, Daniel Isaac Speiser, Carmel Mcdougall, Bernard M. Degnan, Kevin M. Kocot

Faculty Publications

Molluscs biomineralize structures that vary in composition, form, and function, prompting questions about the genetic mechanisms responsible for their production and the evolution of these mechanisms. Chitons (Mollusca, Polyplacophora) are a promising system for studies of biomineralization because they build a range of calcified structures including shell plates and spine- or scale-like sclerites. Chitons also harden the calcified teeth of their rasp-like radula with a coat of iron (as magnetite). Here we present the genome of the West Indian fuzzy chiton Acanthopleura granulata, the first from any aculiferan mollusc. The A. granulata genome contains homologs of many genes associated …

Toward Uncharted Territory Of Cellular Heterogeneity: Advances And Applications Of Single-Cell Rna-Seq, Brandon Lieberman, Meena Kusi, Chia Nung Hung, Chih Wei Chou, Ning He, Yen Yi Ho, Josephine A. Taverna, Tim H.M. Huang, Chun Liang Chen

Faculty Publications

Among single-cell analysis technologies, single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) has been one of the front runners in technical inventions. Since its induction, scRNA-seq has been well received and undergone many fast-paced technical improvements in cDNA synthesis and amplification, processing and alignment of next generation sequencing reads, differentially expressed gene calling, cell clustering, subpopulation identification, and developmental trajectory prediction. scRNA-seq has been exponentially applied to study global transcriptional profiles in all cell types in humans and animal models, healthy or with diseases, including cancer. Accumulative novel subtypes and rare subpopulations have been discovered as potential underlying mechanisms of stochasticity, differentiation, proliferation, tumorigenesis, and …

Effects Of Body Temperature On Initial Bite Force In Three Species Of Rock- And Crevice-Dwelling Lizards From Mexico, Guillermo A. Woolrich-Piña, Geoffrey R. Smith, Norberto Martínez-Méndez, Julio A. Lemos-Espinal, Héctor Gadsden-Esparz

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Juvenile Leaves Or Adult Leaves: Determinants For Vegetative Phase Change In Flowering Plants, Darren Manuela, Mingli Xu

Faculty Publications

Vegetative leaves in Arabidopsis are classified as either juvenile leaves or adult leaves based on their specific traits, such as leaf shape and the presence of abaxial trichomes. The timing of the juvenile-to-adult phase transition during vegetative development, called the vegetative phase change, is a critical decision for plants, as this transition is associated with crop yield, stress responses, and immune responses. Juvenile leaves are characterized by high levels of miR156/157, and adult leaves are characterized by high levels of miR156/157 targets, SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE (SPL) transcription factors. The discovery of this miR156/157-SPL module provided a critical tool for …

Associative Nitrogen Fixation Linked With Three Perennial Bioenergy Grasses In Field And Greenhouse Experiments, Jayani J. Wewalwela, Yuan Tian, Janet R. Donaldson, Brian S. Baldwin, Jac J. Varco, Brett Rushing, Haoliang Lu, Mark A. Williams

Faculty Publications

© 2020 The Authors. Associative nitrogen (N₂)‐fixation (ANF) by bacteria in the root‐zone of perennial bioenergy grasses has the potential to replace or supplement N fertilizer and support sustainable production of biomass, but its application in marginal ecosystems requires further evaluation. In this study, we first combined both greenhouse and field experiments, to explore the N₂ fixation effects of three temperate feedstocks Miscanthus × giganteus (giant miscanthus, Freedom), Panicum virgatum (switchgrass, Alamo), and Saccharum sp. (energycane, Ho 02‐147). In field studies across three growing seasons, plant and soil pools of candidate feedstocks were partially composed of N …

Dystonia 16 (Dyt16) Mutations In Pact Cause Dysregulated Pkr Activation And Eif2Α Signaling Leading To A Compromised Stress Response, Samuel B. Burnett, Lauren S. Vaughn, Nutan Sharma, Ronit Kulkarni, Rekha C. Patel

Faculty Publications

Dystonia 16 (DYT16) is caused by mutations in PACT, the protein activator of interferon-induced double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase (PKR). PKR regulates the integrated stress response (ISR) via phosphorylation of the translation initiation factor eIF2α. This post-translational modification attenuates general protein synthesis while concomitantly triggering enhanced translation of a few specific transcripts leading either to recovery and homeostasis or cellular apoptosis depending on the intensity and duration of stress signals. PKR plays a regulatory role in determining the cellular response to viral infections, oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and growth factor deprivation. In the absence of stress, both PACT and …

Weighing The Evidence For The Abundant-Center Hypothesis, Tad Dallas, Luca Santini, Alan Hastings

Faculty Publications

The abundant-center hypothesis posits that species density should be highest in the center of the geographic range or climatic niche of a species, based on the idea that the center of either will be the area with the highest demographic performance (e.g., greater fecundity, survival, or carrying capacity). While intuitive, current support for the hypothesis is quite mixed. Here, we discuss the current state of the abundant-center hypothesis, highlighting the relatively low level of support for the relationship. We then discuss the potential reasons for this lack of empirical support, emphasiz-ing the inherent ecological complexity which may prevent the observation …

Inferring Life History Characteristics Of The Oceanic Whitetip Shark Carcharhinus Longimanus From Vertebral Bomb Radiocarbon, Michelle S. Passerotti, Allen H. Andrews, Lisa J. Natanson

Faculty Publications

Oceanic whitetip sharks Carcharhinus longimanus are a cosmopolitan epipelagic species that was once prolific throughout the tropics and subtropics but was recently listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and as Threatened under the United States Endangered Species Act. Although historically conspicuous in oceanic fisheries catches, relatively little is known about their habitat use, movement, and life history during migration. Given the paucity of data on migratory patterns and lack of age estimate validation available for this species, we evaluated vertebral growth bands for bomb radiocarbon (14C) patterns to derive additional information on these …

Classification Of Planetary Craters Using Outline-Based Morphometrics, Thomas J. Slezak, Jani Radebaugh, Eric H. Christiansen, Mark C. Belk

Faculty Publications

The morphologies of craters on planetary surfaces reveal clues about the geologic mechanisms by which they originate and subsequently evolve, as well as the materials and physical variables inherent to the environment in which they formed. We carried out a quantitative multivariate analysis of shape descriptors derived from the outlines of craters formed by volcanic processes on Mars, Io, and Earth and by impact cratering on the Moon using elliptic Fourier analysis (EFA) and the Zahn-Roskies (Z-R) shape function. Canonical variate analysis (CVA) was used to construct a statistical model of differences between the crater groups to classify …

Microbiological, Physicochemical, And Immunological Analysis Of A Commercial Cashew Nut-Based Yogurt, Christopher P. Mattison, Kayanush Aryana, Kristen Clermont, Eric Prestenburg, Steven W. Lloyd, Casey .. Grimm, Richard L. Wasserman

Faculty Publications

Nut-based milks and yogurts are gaining popularity, but may not offer the same benefits as dairy yogurts to consumers. Cashew nuts often cause severe allergic reactions, and cashew nut allergens are stable to several types of processing. To compare its characteristics to dairy yogurt and characterize the effects of fermentation on the Ana o 1-3 cashew nut allergens, a commercial yogurt made from cashew nuts (Cashewgurt) was evaluated for microbiological, physiochemical, and immunological properties. Average counts for lactobacilli and Streptococcus thermophilus were greater than 10 million colony forming units per milliliter, indicating the capacity to provide a health benefit. Cashewgurt …

Speciation-By-Depth On Coral Reefs: Sympatric Divergence With Gene Flow Or Cryptic Transient Isolation?, Carlos Prada, Michael E. Hellberg

Faculty Publications

The distributions of many sister species in the sea overlap geographically but are partitioned along depth gradients. The genetic changes leading to depth segregation may evolve in geographic isolation as a prerequisite to coexistence or may emerge during primary divergence leading to new species. These alternatives can now be distinguished via the power endowed by the thousands of scorable loci provided by second-generation sequence data. Here, we revisit the case of two depth-segregated, genetically isolated ecotypes of the nominal Caribbean candelabrum coral Eunicea flexuosa. Previous analyses based on a handful of markers could not distinguish between models of genetic exchange …