Furthermore, the use of this marker allowed us to explore our data in combination with other recent population genetics datasets for this species, like the Mila et al. To quantify population structure in these estuaries, we used the common mitochondrial barcoding gene Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI), which has been used as a tool for population genetics studies across multiple diverse taxa over the past 20+ years ( NCBI, 2014 Barcode of Life, 2018), and specifically has been proven effective for understanding the genetic diversity of marine fishes (e.g., Ward et al., 2005). Cryptic by nature, gobies are small (24.0 ppt) salinities may be more subject to processes that lower genetic diversity, like drift. The Gobiidae is the largest family of marine fishes, with nearly 2,000 species described worldwide, an estimated 320 of which are found in the Americas ( Van Tassell, 2011). It also demonstrates the importance of exploring both smaller and larger scale population structure in marine organisms to better understand local and regional patterns of population connectivity and gene flow. Altogether, this system offers a compelling way to evaluate whether factors other than dispersal per se mediate recruitment in an estuarine-dependent species of fish with a larval dispersal phase. We also found evidence that an introduced European population of naked gobies may have originated from an Atlantic source population. Sampling along a salinity gradient did not reveal any significant positive or negative correlations between salinity and genetic diversity, nor the proportion of singleton haplotypes, with the exception of a positive correlation between salinity standard deviation and genetic diversity. Moreover, we detected a number of new haplotypes in North Carolina that had not yet been observed in prior work. Our analysis also showed high predicted genetic diversity based upon a large number of rare haplotypes found within many of our sampled populations. In North Carolina, we found a significant amount of gene flow within and between estuaries. We also included recent sequence data from GenBank to determine how North Carolina populations fit into the larger biogeographic understanding of this species. We sequenced 155 fish from 10 sites, using a common barcoding gene (COI). oyster reefs, rubble, woody debris) for reproduction and refuge. bosc is an abundant and geographically widespread species that requires complex but patchy microhabitat (e.g. We used an ecologically important benthic fish species, Gobiosoma bosc (naked goby), to investigate local and regional scale population structure and gene flow along a salinity gradient (∼3 ppt to ∼18 ppt) in two North Carolina estuaries. Instead, other factors like larval behavior and the availability of preferred settlement habitat may be more important to maintaining population structure.
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However, evidence from a number of recent studies on demersal fishes suggests that the dispersal of propagules may not be strongly correlated with gene flow. Many species of fish produce larvae that undergo a prolonged dispersal phase. Distribution and population structure in the naked goby Gobiosoma bosc (Perciformes: Gobiidae) along a salinity gradient in two western Atlantic estuaries. Cite this article Moore CS, Ruocchio MJ, Blakeslee AMH. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. Licence This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. Biology Department, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, United States of America DOI 10.7717/peerj.5380 Published Accepted Received Academic Editor Robert Toonen Subject Areas Biogeography, Ecology, Marine Biology, Population Biology Keywords Biogeography, Gene flow, Dispersal, North Carolina, Habitat mosaic, Demersal, Genetic diversity, Local, Regional Copyright © 2018 Moore et al.