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Extensive sympatry, cryptic diversity and introgression throughout the Indo-Pacific distribution of two coral species complexes
Citation
Ladner, J. T. and Palumbi, S. R. (2012). Data from: Extensive sympatry, cryptic diversity and introgression throughout the geographic distribution of two coral species complexes. Southwestern Pacific OBIS, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Wellington, New Zealand, 20 records, Online http://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource.do?r=smpatry_of_coral released on April 7, 2015. https://marineinfo.org/id/dataset/5086
Contact: Mackay, Kevin

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Description
The identification of species is one of the most basic, and yet critically important, issues in biology with far-reaching potential implications for fields such as biodiversity conservation, population ecology and epidemiology. Morphology has long been the primary tool biologists have used to categorize life. However, we now know that a significant portion of natural diversity is morphologically hidden, and therefore, we must integrate nonmorphological tools into the description of biodiversity. more

Here, we demonstrate the utility of multilocus population genetic data for identifying and characterizing cryptic species complexes, even when species share large amounts of genetic variability. Specifically, we have used DNA sequence data from 12 genomic regions to characterize two widespread species complexes in the coral genus Acropora: A. cytherea and A. hyacinthus. These two morphospecies have each been sampled from 5 to 7 locations throughout their Indo-Pacific distributions, and with the use of structure and hierarchical clustering, we demonstrate the presence of at least six widespread cryptic species within these two morphospecies complexes. After identifying cryptic lineages, we then utilize the genetic data to examine the history of introgressive hybridization within and between these morphospecies complexes. Our data indicate that these two complexes form a global syngameon with consistent patterns of introgression between species across large geographic distributions.

Scope
Themes:
Biology
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal, I, Indo-Pacific, Acropora Oken, 1815

Geographical coverage
I, Indo-Pacific [Marine Regions]

Taxonomic coverage
Acropora Oken, 1815 [WoRMS]

Contributors
Stanford University; Hopkins Marine Station, moredata creator
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), more

Related datasets
Published in:
NZOBIS: Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biodiversity Information System, more

Dataset status: Completed
Data type: Data
Data origin: Research: field survey
Metadatarecord created: 2015-08-24
Information last updated: 2015-08-24
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