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Population genetics of a tropical sea cucumber species (Stichopus monotuberculatus) in China

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Abstract

Stichopus monotuberculatus is a valuable tropical sea cucumber that is distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific Ocean, including Guangxi, Hainan Land and Xisha Islands of China. Increasing demand and over-fishing, however, have seriously depleted the wild populations of this species in China. In this study, we applied both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers to characterize the population genetic subdivisions and phylogeographic histories of S. monotuberculatus sampled from Southern China. Based on both classes of molecular markers, our results demonstrated significant genetic structure among S. monotuberculatus populations, and revealed that the three populations (Q, S and B) experienced demographic expansion during the late Pleistocene (50,000–190,000 years BP). This study provides the basic information on natural population structure of S. monotuberculatus that may help to preserve and manage tropical sea cucumbers in China.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the National Key Technology R&D Program (2012BAD18B03-02) and Fishery Scientific and Technical Program of Guangdong Province (A201101D02, A201100D01) assigned to CQ Hu. LH Yuan is supported by the Guangzhou Pearl River Scientific and Technological New Star Project (2012J2200003) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (20100480788). We gratefully thank the Deep Ocean Observation and Research Station on XiSha Islands (South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, CAS) for the support on samples collection and acknowledge the support of K.C. Wong Education Foundation, Hong Kong. We appreciate the anonymous reviewers’ and Dr. Ting Chen’s favorable comments on this version.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology (LMB), South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China

    Lihong Yuan, Chaoqun Hu, Lvping Zhang & Jianjun Xia

  2. Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biology of Guangdong Province (LAMB), South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China

    Lihong Yuan, Chaoqun Hu, Lvping Zhang & Jianjun Xia

  3. Guangdong Entomological Institute & South China Institute of Endangered Animals, Guangzhou, 510260, China

    Lihong Yuan

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  1. Lihong Yuan
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  2. Chaoqun Hu
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  3. Lvping Zhang
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  4. Jianjun Xia
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Correspondence to Chaoqun Hu.

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Yuan, L., Hu, C., Zhang, L. et al. Population genetics of a tropical sea cucumber species (Stichopus monotuberculatus) in China. Conserv Genet 14, 1279–1284 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-013-0506-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-013-0506-7

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