%0 Journal Article
%T Not All Larvae Stay Close to Home: Insights into Marine Population Connectivity with a Focus on the Brown Surgeonfish (Acanthurus nigrofuscus)
%A Jeff A. Eble
%A Luiz A. Rocha
%A Matthew T. Craig
%A Brian W. Bowen
%J Journal of Marine Biology
%D 2011
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2011/518516
%X Recent reports of localized larval recruitment in predominately small-range fishes are countered by studies that show high genetic connectivity across large oceanic distances. This discrepancy may result from the different timescales over which genetic and demographic processes operate or rather may indicate regular long-distance dispersal in some species. Here, we contribute an analysis of mtDNA cytochrome b diversity in the widely distributed Brown Surgeonfish (Acanthurus nigrofuscus; ), which revealed significant genetic structure only at the extremes of the range ( ; ). Collections from Hawaii to the Eastern Indian Ocean comprise one large, undifferentiated population. This pattern of limited genetic subdivision across reefs of the central Indo-Pacific has been observed in a number of large-range reef fishes. Conversely, small-range fishes are often deeply structured over the same area. These findings demonstrate population connectivity differences among species at biogeographic and evolutionary timescales, which likely translates into differences in dispersal ability at ecological and demographic timescales. While interspecific differences in population connectivity complicate the design of management strategies, the integration of multiscale connectivity patterns into marine resource planning will help ensure long-term ecosystem stability by preserving functionally diverse communities. 1. Introduction The recent dramatic decline of marine ecosystems [1¨C3] has led to an increased interest in the use of spatially explicit management strategies, such as no-take marine reserves, to promote ecosystem stability [4¨C9]. Yet designing marine reserves that can support a community¡¯s ability to absorb and recover from recurrent ecosystem disturbances requires an understanding of the scale and magnitude of population connectivity for a wide range of species and environments [9¨C13]. While there have been a number of recent, remarkable insights into larval dispersal distances for some taxonomic groups (e.g., Damselfishes [13, 14]), the lack of data for the majority of species continues to limit the integration of dispersal dynamics into reserve planning and design. Most near-shore marine species exhibit an early pelagic larval phase (reviewed in [15, 16]) and larval duration has been repeatedly explored as a surrogate for species dispersal ability [17¨C20]. However, a comprehensive review found average pelagic larval duration (PLD) to be a poor predictor of genetic structure, and by extension dispersal ability, with previously reported correlations driven by
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jmb/2011/518516/