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Genetic species delineation among branching Caribbean Porites corals

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Abstract

Coral species are difficult to discern because of their morphological plasticity, long generation times, and slow rates of mitochondrial DNA evolution. Among Caribbean representatives of the genus Porites are three named species (P. divaricata, P. furcata, and P. porites) with branching colony morphologies whose validity as genetically isolated species has been debated. We present sequence data from the mitochondrial control region, nuclear ITS, and nine single-copy nuclear loci for the Caribbean Porites and a related eastern Pacific species. mtDNA sequences were nearly invariant among the three branching species and their crustose sister P. branneri, and ITS sequences from these four were intermingled. An information theoretic analysis provided no support for upholding the three named Caribbean branching species. Both a clustering analysis and an analysis of molecular variance showed that sequence variation from the three branching forms is partitioned more by geography than by taxonomy. Multi-locus coalescent phylogenetic analysis provided a calibrated estimate for the nuclear DNA substitution rate (0.14 % Ma−1) close to that for other corals. Because no generalities have emerged from genetic investigations of the validity of morphologically defined coral species, the use of single-copy nuclear data is likely to be important in testing problematic species designations.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by NSF Grants OCE-0550270 to MEH and IBB, DEB-1311579 to CP and MEH, and OCE-0315995 to JEN. All sequences have been deposited in GenBank (accession numbers: KJ951071-KJ951985). All alignments along with sequences for MM100 are available from Dryad (doi:10.5061/dryad.986kd). We thank the respective national jurisdictions for issuing collecting permits. D. Ruiz and D. Beltrán helped during field collections. J. McCormack provided a hand-edited *BEAST dated file.

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  1. J. L. Stake

    Present address: Department of Biology, Rivier University, 420 So. Main St., Nashua, NH 03062, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

    C. Prada, M. B. DeBiasse & M. E. Hellberg

  2. Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, PO Box 42451, Lafayette, LA, 70504, USA

    J. E. Neigel, B. Yednock & J. L. Stake

  3. Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, PO Box 1346, Kaneohe, HI, 96744, USA

    Z. H. Forsman

  4. Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 208 Mueller Laboratory, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    I. B. Baums

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Prada, C., DeBiasse, M.B., Neigel, J.E. et al. Genetic species delineation among branching Caribbean Porites corals. Coral Reefs 33, 1019–1030 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-014-1179-5

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