Browsing by Author "Serrão, Ester A."
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- Not out of the Mediterranean: Atlantic populations of the gorgonian Paramuricea clavata are a separate sister species under further lineage diversificationPublication . Coelho, Márcio; Pearson, Gareth; Boavida, Joana R. H.; Paulo, Diogo; Aurelle, Didier; Arnaud‐Haond, Sophie; Gómez‐Gras, Daniel; Bensoussan, Nathaniel; López‐Sendino, Paula; Cerrano, Carlo; Kipson, Silvija; Bakran‐Petricioli, Tatjana; Ferretti, Eliana; Linares, Cristina; Garrabou, Joaquim; Serrão, Ester A.; Ledoux, Jean‐BaptisteThe accurate delimitation of species boundaries in nonbilaterian marine taxa is notoriously difficult, with consequences for many studies in ecology and evolution. Anthozoans are a diverse group of key structural organisms worldwide, but the lack of reliable morphological characters and informative genetic markers hampers our ability to understand species diversification. We investigated population differentiation and species limits in Atlantic (Iberian Peninsula) and Mediterranean lineages of the octocoral genus Paramuricea previously identified as P. clavata. We used a diverse set of molecular markers (microsatellites, RNA-seq derived single-copy orthologues [SCO] and mt-mutS [mitochondrial barcode]) at 49 locations. Clear segregation of Atlantic and Mediterranean lineages was found with all markers. Species-tree estimations based on SCO strongly supported these two clades as distinct, recently diverged sister species with incomplete lineage sorting, P. cf. grayi and P. clavata, respectively. Furthermore, a second putative (or ongoing) speciation event was detected in the Atlantic between two P. cf. grayi color morphotypes (yellow and purple) using SCO and supported by microsatellites. While segregating P. cf. grayi lineages showed considerable geographic structure, dominating circalittoral communities in southern (yellow) and western (purple) Portugal, their occurrence in sympatry at some localities suggests a degree of reproductive isolation. Overall, our results show that previous molecular and morphological studies have underestimated species diversity in Paramuricea occurring in the Iberian Peninsula, which has important implications for conservation planning. Finally, our findings validate the usefulness of phylotranscriptomics for resolving evolutionary relationships in octocorals.
- Weak biodiversity connectivity in the European network of no-take marine protected areasPublication . Assis, J.; Fragkopoulou, Eliza; Serrão, Ester A.; e Costa, Horta; Gandra, Miguel; Abecasis, DavidThe need for international cooperation in marine resource management and conservation has been reflected in the increasing number of agreements aiming for effective and well-connected networks of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). However, the extent to which individual MPAs are connected remains mostly unknown. Here, we use a biophysical model tuned with empirical data on species dispersal ecology to predict connectivity of a vast spectrum of biodiversity in the European network of marine reserves (i.e., no-take MPAs). Our results highlight the correlation between empirical propagule duration data and connectivity potential and show weak network connectivity and strong isolation for major ecological groups, resulting from the lack of direct connectivity corridors between reserves over vast regions. The particularly high isolation predicted for ecosystemstructuring species (e.g., corals, sponges, macroalgae and seagrass) might potentially undermine biodiversity conservation efforts if local retention is insufficient and unmanaged populations are at risk. Isolation might also be problematic for populations' persistence in the light of climate change and expected species range shifts. Our findings provide novel insights for management directives, highlighting the location of regions requiring additional marine reserves to function as stepping-stone connectivity corridors. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.