DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0178239 Previous seascape genetics studies have emphasized the role of ocean currents and geographic distances to explain the genetic structure of marine species, but the role of benthic habitat has been more rarely considered. Here, we compared the population genetic structure observed in West Pacific giant clam populations against model simulations that accounted habitat composition and configuration, geographical distance, and oceanic currents. Dispersal determined by geographical distance provided a modelled genetic structure in better agreement with the observations than dispersal by oceanic currents, possibly due to insufficient spatial resolution of available oceanographic and coastal circulation models. Considering both habitat composition and configuration significantly improved the match between simulated and observed genetic structures. This study emphasizes the importance of a reefscape genetics approach to population ecology, evolution and conservation in the sea.
| File | Pages | Size | Access | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Publisher's official version | 23 | 2 Mo | ||
S1 Table. Summary of genetic diversity at 15 microsatellite loci from Tridacna maxima samples. | 2 | 504 Ko | ||
S2 Table. Observed pairwise genetic differentiation among T. maxima sampled locations. | 1 | 481 Ko | ||
S1 Fig. Relative probability of survival for Tridacna maxima larvae over the competency period. | 1 | 462 Ko | ||
S2 Fig. Performance of IBD models to reproduce the observed genetic structure as a function of parameter a (see Eq 1). | 1 | 466 Ko | ||
S3 Fig. IBD dispersal kernel that provided best congruence between the simulated and observed genetic structures for T. maxima in the New Caledonia and Vanuatu area. | 1 | 373 Ko | ||
S1 File. Background surface circulation and model configuration. | 6 | 1 Mo | ||
S2 File. Linear regression models between genetic distance, geographic distance, oceanographic distance, and habitat continuity. | 1 | 577 Ko | ||
S3 File. Fst values per locus obtained with and without using ENA. | 2 | 310 Ko | ||
S4 File. Indirect estimates of gene dispersal distance from empirical genetic data using Moran’s I relationship coefficients. | 2 | 595 Ko |
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