Patterns, causes, and consequences of marine larval dispersal

Quantifying the probability of larval exchange among marine populations is key to predicting local population dynamics and optimizing networks of marine protected areas. The pattern of connectivity among populations can be described by the measurement of a dispersal kernel. However, a statistically...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2015-11, Vol.112 (45), p.13940-13945
Main Authors: D’Aloia, Cassidy C., Bogdanowicz, Steven M., Francis, Robin K., Majoris, John E., Harrison, Richard G., Buston, Peter M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal populations
Animals
Biodiversity
Biological Sciences
Dispersal
Elacatinus
Fish
Larva - physiology
Marine
Marine Biology
Probability
Sampling
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Summary:Quantifying the probability of larval exchange among marine populations is key to predicting local population dynamics and optimizing networks of marine protected areas. The pattern of connectivity among populations can be described by the measurement of a dispersal kernel. However, a statistically robust, empirical dispersal kernel has been lacking for any marine species. Here, we use genetic parentage analysis to quantify a dispersal kernel for the reef fishElacatinus lori,demonstrating that dispersal declines exponentially with distance. The spatial scale of dispersal is an order of magnitude less than previous estimates—the median dispersal distance is just 1.7 km and no dispersal events exceed 16.4 km despite intensive sampling out to 30 km from source. Overlaid on this strong pattern is subtle spatial variation, but neither pelagic larval duration nor direction is associated with the probability of successful dispersal. Given the strong relationship between distance and dispersal, we show that distance-driven logistic models have strong power to predict dispersal probabilities. Moreover, connectivity matrices generated from these models are congruent with empirical estimates of spatial genetic structure, suggesting that the pattern of dispersal we uncovered reflects long-term patterns of gene flow. These results challenge assumptions regarding the spatial scale and presumed predictors of marine population connectivity. We conclude that if marine reserve networks aim to connect whole communities of fishes and conserve biodiversity broadly, then reserves that are close in space (
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1513754112