Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Multiscale Diversity in the Marshes of the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER

  • Published:
Estuaries and Coasts Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Factors that maintain genetic and species diversity may act in concert in natural ecosystems. Here, we investigate correlations between genetic diversity (in eight salt marsh species) and community species diversity. A significant positive correlation existed between genetic diversity and species richness, although the relationship was not significant for any species individually. Nonetheless, four of the eight comparisons showed strong positive relationships between genetic and species diversity. Additionally, several abiotic variables were used in a model selection procedure to determine what site-level characteristics might drive differences in genetic diversity in this system. The rate of larval influx, as measured by barnacle abundance on Spartina alterniflora, was the strongest predictor of site-level genetic diversity in our samples. Our results suggest that estuarine management efforts should consider recruitment rates when selecting areas for protection.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akaike, H. 1973. Information theory and an extension of the maximum likelihood principle. In Second International Symposium on Information Theory, ed. B.N. Petrov and F. Csaki, 267–281. Budapest: Akademiai Kiado.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amos, W. and J. Harwood. 1998. Factors affecting levels of genetic diversity in natural populations. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 353: 177–186.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Antonovics, J. 1976. The input from population genetics: “The new ecological genetics”. Systematic Biology 1: 233–245.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ball, A.O., G.R. Sedberry, M.S. Zatcoff, R.W. Chapman, and J.L. Carlin. 2000. Population structure of the wreckfish Polyprion americanus determined with microsatellite genetic markers. Marine Biology 137: 1077–1090.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bertness, M.D. 1984. Ribbed mussels and Spartina alterniflora production in a New England salt marsh. Ecology 65: 1794–1807.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, T.D. 2007. Mollusc population size distribution monitoring: Fall 2004 mid-marsh and creekbank infaunal and epifaunal mollusc size distributions based on collections from GCE marsh, monitoring sites 1-10. http://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/lter/data/gce_data.htm. GCE Dataset: INV-GCEM-0705a.

  • Bruno, J.F. and M.D. Bertness. 2001. Habitat modification and facilitation in benthic marine communities. In Marine community ecology, ed. M.D. Bertness, S.D. Gaines, and M.E. Hay, 201–218. Sunderland: Sinauer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham, K.P. and D.R. Anderson. 2002. Model selection and inference: An information-theoretic approach. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cardinale, B.J., D.S. Srivastava, J.E. Duffy, J.P. Wright, A.L. Downing, M. Sankaran, and C. Jouseau. 2006. Effects of biodiversity on the functioning of trophic groups and ecosystems. Nature 443: 989–992.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cleary, D.F.R., C. Fauvelot, M.J. Genner, S.B.J. Menken, and A.Ø. Mooers. 2006. Parallel responses of species and genetic diversity to El Niño Southern Oscillation-induced environmental destruction. Ecology Letters 9: 304–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell, J. 1978. Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199: 1302–1310.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Croarkin, C.M., O. Tobias, J.J. Filliben, B. Hembree, W.F. Guthrie, J. Prins, C. Zey, N.A. Heckert, and L. Trutna. 2003. NIST/SEMATECH e-Handbook of Statistical Methods, NIST Handbook 151.

  • Crutsinger, G.M., M.D. Collins, J.A. Fordyce, Z. Gompert, C.C. Nice, and N.J. Sanders. 2006. Plant genotypic diversity predicts community structure and governs an ecosystem process. Science 313: 966–968.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dabney, A., J.D. Storey, and G.R. Warnes. 2008. qvalue: Q-value estimation for false discovery rate control. R package version 1.1.1.

  • Doyle, J. and J.L. Doyle. 1987. Genomic plant DNA preparation from fresh tissue—CTAB method. Phytochemical Bulletin 19: 11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewing, B., L. Hillier, M.C. Wendl, and P. Green. 1998. Base-calling of automated sequencer traces using Phred. I. Accuracy assessment. Genome Research 8: 175–185.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Felsenstein, J. 2006. Accuracy of coalescent likelihood estimates: Do we need more sites, more sequences, or more loci? Molecular Biology and Evolution 23: 691–700.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Folmer, O., M. Black, W. Hoeh, R. Lutz, and R. Vrijenhoek. 1994. DNA primers for amplification of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I from diverse metazoan invertebrates. Molecular Marine Biology and Biotechnology 3: 294–299.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Foltz, D.W. 2003. Invertebrate species with nonpelagic larvae have elevated levels of nonsynonymous substitutions and reduced nucleotide diversities. Journal of Molecular Evolution 57: 607–612.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gamfeldt, L., J. Wallén, P.R. Jonsson, K.M. Berntsson, and J.N. Havenhand. 2005. Increasing intraspecific diversity enhances settling success in a marine invertebrate. Ecology 86: 3219–3224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hacker, S.D. and M.D. Bertness. 1999. Experimental evidence for factors maintaining plant species diversity in a New England salt marsh. Ecology 80: 2064–2073.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamrick, J.L. and M.J.W. Godt. 1996. Effects of life history traits on genetic diversity in plant species. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 351: 1291–1298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodson, R.E. 2005. Surface water bacterial productivity at ten Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER sampling sites. http://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/lter/data/gce_data.htm. GCE datasets: BCT-GCEM-0511-a-e.

  • Hollebone, A.L. and M.E. Hay. 2008. An invasive crab alters interaction webs in a marine community. Biological Invasions 10: 347–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hubbell, S.P. 2001. The unified theory of biodiversity and biogeography. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, R.R. 2002. Generating samples under a Wright–Fisher neutral model of genetic variation. Bioinformatics 18: 337–338.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, A.R. and J.J. Stachowicz. 2004. Genetic diversity enhances the resistance of a seagrass ecosystem to disturbance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 101: 8998–9002.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, A.R., B.D. Inouye, M.T.J. Johnson, N. Underwood, and M. Vellend. 2008. Ecological consequences of genetic diversity. Ecology Letters 11: 609–623.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huston, M. 1979. A general hypothesis of species diversity. The American Naturalist 113: 81–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutchinson, G.E. 1959. Homage to Santa Rosalia or why are there so many kinds of animals? The American Naturalist 93: 145–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kunza, A.E., and S.C. Pennings. 2008. Patterns of plant diversity in Georgia and Texas salt marshes. Estuaries and Coasts 31: 673-681. GCE dataset: PLT-GCET-0608.

  • Lankau, R.A. and S.Y. Strauss. 2007. Mutual feedbacks maintain both genetic and species diversity in a plant community. Science 317: 1561–1563.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lourie, S.A. and A.C.J. Vincent. 2004. Using biogeography to help set priorities in marine conservation. Conservation Biology 18: 1004–1020.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur, R.H. and E.O. Wilson. 1967. The theory of island biogeography. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magurran, A.E. 1988. Ecological diversity and its measurement. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCauley, D.E., J. Raveill, and J. Antonovics. 1995. Local founding events as determinants of genetic structure in a plant metapopulation. Heredity 75: 630–636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nei, M. and W. Li. 1979. Mathematical model for studying molecular variation in terms of restriction endonucleases. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 76: 5269–5273.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Neter, J., W. Wassreman, and M.H. Kutner. 1990. Applied linear statistical models, 3rd ed. Homewood: R.D. Irwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palumbi, S.R. and A.C. Wilson. 1990. Mitochondrial DNA diversity in the sea urchins Strongylocentrotus purpuratus and S. droebachiensis. Evolution 44: 403–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pannell, J.R. and B. Charlesworth. 2000. Effects of metapopulation processes on measures of genetic diversity. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 355: 1851–1864.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Peakall, R. and P.E. Smouse. 2006. GENALEX 6: Genetic analysis in Excel. Population genetic software for teaching and research. Molecular Ecology Notes 6: 288–295.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennings, S.C. and R.M. Callaway. 1992. Salt marsh plant zonation: The relative importance of competition and physical factors. Ecology 73: 681–690.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pennings, S.C. 2000-2006. Fall plant monitoring survey -- biomass calculated from shoot height and flowering status of plants in permanent plots at GCE sampling sites 1-10. http://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/lter/data/gce_data.htm. GCE datasets: PLT-GCEM-0303a-c, -0311b, -0501b, -0511b, and -0612b.

  • Peterson, B.J. and K.L. Heck Jr. 2001. Positive interactions between suspension-feeding bivalves and seagrass—a facultative mutualism. Marine Ecology Progress Series 213: 143–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team. 2007. R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org.

  • Rice, W.R. 1989. Analyzing tables of statistical tests. Evolution 43: 223–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, C.L., J.L. Hamrick, L.A. Donovan, and R. Mauricio. 2004. Unexpectedly high clonal diversity of two salt marsh perennials across a severe environmental gradient. Ecology Letters 7: 1155–1162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rozas, J., J.C. Sanchez-DelBarrio, X. Messeguer, and R. Rozas. 2003. DnaSP, DNA polymorphism analyses by the coalescent and other methods. Bioinformatics 19: 2496–2497.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sloop, C.M., H.G. McGray, M.J. Blum, and D.R. Strong. 2005. Characterization of 24 additional microsatellite loci in Spartina species (Poaceae). Conservation Genetics 6: 1049–1052.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, F. and J.D. Witman. 1999. Species diversity in subtidal landscapes: Maintenance by physical processes and larval recruitment. Ecology 80: 51–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J.M. and R.W. Frey. 1985. Biodeposition by the ribbed mussel Geukensia demissa in a salt marsh, Sapelo Island, Georgia. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 55: 817–828.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vellend, M. 2003. Island biogeography of genes and species. The American Naturalist 162: 358–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vellend, M. 2004. Parallel effects of land-use history on species diversity and genetic diversity of forest herbs. Ecology 85: 3043–3055.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vellend, M. 2005. Species diversity and genetic diversity: Parallel processes and correlated patterns. The American Naturalist 166: 199–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vellend, M. and M.A. Geber. 2005. Connections between species diversity and genetic diversity. Ecology Letters 8: 767–781.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wakeley, J. 1998. Segregating sites in Wright’s island model. Theoretical Population Biology 53: 166–174.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Waples, R.S. and O. Gaggiotti. 2006. What is a population? An empirical evaluation of some genetic methods for identifying the number of gene pools and their degree of connectivity. Molecular Ecology 15: 1419–1439.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wares, J.P. 2001. Patterns of speciation inferred from mitochondrial DNA in North American Chthamalus (Cirripedia: Balanomorpha: Chthamaloidea). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 18: 104–116.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Worm, B., E.B. Barbier, N. Beaumont, J.E. Duffy, C. Folke, B.S. Halpern, J.B.C. Jackson, H.K. Lotze, F. Micheli, S.R. Palumbi, E. Sala, K.A. Selkoe, J.J. Stachowicz, and R. Watson. 2006. Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem services. Science 314: 787–790.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zenger, K.R., B.J. Richardson, and A.-M. Vachot-Griffin. 2003. A rapid population expansion retains genetic diversity within European rabbits in Australia. Molecular Ecology 12: 789–794.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant numbers OCE-9982133 and OCE-0620959. Additional funding was provided by the University of Georgia and the National Geographic Society (NGS grant #8351-07). Thanks to R. Miller, M. Cozad, D. Saucedo, M. S. Pankey, the GCE-LTER Schoolyard program, and field researchers at the University of Georgia Marine Institute (UGAMI) for help with field collections. D. Patel helped with DNA amplification and sequencing. Special thanks to T. Bell, S. Small, and C. Zakas for help in the lab and comments on the manuscript. K. F. Robinson was a great help in data analysis and also provided comments on the paper. Additional helpful comments were graciously provided by two anonymous reviewers. This is a contribution of the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems Long-Term Ecological Research program, and contribution number 985 of the University of Georgia Marine Institute.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    John D. Robinson, Edgardo Diaz-Ferguson, Monica F. Poelchau & John Wares

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Edgardo Diaz-Ferguson

  3. Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204, USA

    Steven Pennings

  4. Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Thomas Dale Bishop

Authors
  1. John D. Robinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Edgardo Diaz-Ferguson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Monica F. Poelchau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Steven Pennings
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Thomas Dale Bishop
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. John Wares
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John D. Robinson.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary Table 1

PCR conditions and primer sequences modified from Sloop et al. 2006. (DOC 31 kb)

Supplementary Table 2

Observed (H o) and expected (H e) heterozygosity, the inbreeding coefficient (F), the multilocus probability of identity (PI), and Simpson’s index (D) for sites where S. alterniflora was sampled for genetic diversity. (DOC 31 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Robinson, J.D., Diaz-Ferguson, E., Poelchau, M.F. et al. Multiscale Diversity in the Marshes of the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER. Estuaries and Coasts 33, 865–877 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-009-9188-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-009-9188-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation