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Genetic structure of wild European populations of the invasive Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas due to aquaculture practices

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Abstract

As a result of aquaculture activities, Pacific oysters Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793) have invaded European coasts. Using seven microsatellites, we found virtually no genetic differentiation between natural populations throughout the European range (from the south of the Wadden Sea (the Netherlands) to the south of France) and French cultivated oysters. The genetic homogeneity of Pacific oyster samples appears to be the result of repeated transfers from same seed stocks made for aquaculture and, to a lesser extent, widespread dispersal due to specific biological traits of this species. The only genetic differentiation of Sylt population in the north of the Wadden Sea (Germany) suggests a stronger, persistent impact of ongoing supply of new genetic material from hatchery production, corresponding to seeds selection made by breeders. All of our genetic data highlighted the importance of aquaculture practices on the genetic structure of the keystone invader C. gigas in Europe.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Audrey Rohfritsch, Sylvie Lapègue, Christopher Sauvage, Solène Coedel, Julien Normand, Nicole Faury and Serge Heurtebise for their help for microsatellite genotyping. We are indebted to Douve van den Ende and Karsten Reise for providing samples from the Netherlands and Germany, respectively. We also acknowledge Edouard Lavergne for his help for multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS) in R. This research program was financially supported by the national program PROGIG (Prolifération de Crassostrea gigas, LITEAU II) and by the ANR project 08-0334-01 “Hi-Flo”. We also thank Leon Meyer and Helen McCombie for correcting the English.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire des Sciences de l’Environnement Marin—LEMAR, UMR CNRS 6539, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Université de Bretagne occidentale, 29280, Plouzané, France

    Anne-Leila Meistertzheim & Marie-Thérèse Thébault

  2. Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l’Environnement de Polynésie Française—CRIOBE, USR 3278 CNRS—EPHE, Laboratoire d’Excellence “CORAIL”, Université de Perpignan, 66860, Perpignan Cedex, France

    Anne-Leila Meistertzheim

  3. Ifremer, Unité Etude des Ecosystèmes Profonds—DEEP, BP 70, 29280, Plouzané, France

    Sophie Arnaud-Haond

  4. Ifremer, Laboratoire des Sciences de l’Environnement Marin—LEMAR, UMR CNRS 6539, BP 70, 29280, Plouzané, France

    Pierre Boudry

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  1. Anne-Leila Meistertzheim
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  2. Sophie Arnaud-Haond
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Correspondence to Anne-Leila Meistertzheim.

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Communicated by S. Uthicke.

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Meistertzheim, AL., Arnaud-Haond, S., Boudry, P. et al. Genetic structure of wild European populations of the invasive Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas due to aquaculture practices. Mar Biol 160, 453–463 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-2102-7

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