Low genetic diversity and recent demographic expansion in the red starfish Echinaster sepositus (Retzius 1816)

• DOI: 10.1038/srep33269
• Publication Date: 2016-09-15T09:11:25Z
• Authors: Alex Garcia-Cisneros; Creu Palacín; Yousra Ben Khadra; Rocío Pérez-Portela
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Genetic Structure; Evolutionary biology; Biochemistry; Gene; Genetic diversity; Starfish; Range (aeronautics); Sociology; Biologia de la conservació; Global and Planetary Change; Genètica de poblacions; Ecology; Conservation biology; Life Sciences; FOS: Sociology; Phylogenetics; Phylogeography; Biogeography; Biogeografia; Physical Sciences; Population Genetic Structure and Dynamics; Gene Flow; Composite material; Marine Invasions and Biodiversity Loss in Mediterranean Sea; Population; DNA, Mitochondrial; Article; Electron Transport Complex IV; 03 medical and health sciences; Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; Biological dispersal; Mediterranean Sea; Genetics; Animals; Genetic variation; 14. Life underwater; Intraspecific competition; Molecular Biology; Biology; Demography; Genetic Variation; Materials science; DNA Barcoding for Food Authentication and Fraud Detection; Haplotypes; FOS: Biological sciences; Environmental Science; Genetic structure; Population Genetics; Microsatellite Repeats

Abstract Understanding the phylogeography and genetic structure of populations processes responsible patterns therein is crucial for evaluating vulnerability marine species developing management strategies. In this study, we explore how past climatic events ongoing oceanographic demographic have shaped diversity Atlanto-Mediterranean red starfish Echinaster sepositus . The relatively abundant in some areas Mediterranean Sea, but dramatically decreased over recent years due to direct extraction ornamental aquariums souvenir industries. Analyses across most distribution range based on mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene eight microsatellite loci revealed very low intraspecific diversity. showed a weak within basins despite priori dispersal potential its lecithotrophic larva. Our results also expansion species. data presented here indicate that might be highly vulnerable,