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Population Dynamics and Genotypic Richness of the Threatened Acropora Spp

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Population Dynamics and Genotypic Richness of the Threatened Acropora Spp Nova Southeastern University NSUWorks HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations HCNSO Student Work 11-26-2018 Population Dynamics and Genotypic Richness of the Threatened Acropora spp. and their Hybrid in the U.S. Virgin Islands Hannah F. Nylander-Asplin Nova Southeastern University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_stuetd Part of the Marine Biology Commons, and the Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons Share Feedback About This Item NSUWorks Citation Hannah F. Nylander-Asplin. 2018. Population Dynamics and Genotypic Richness of the Threatened Acropora spp. and their Hybrid in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Master's thesis. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, . (498) https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_stuetd/498. This Thesis is brought to you by the HCNSO Student Work at NSUWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of NSUWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Thesis of Hannah F. Nylander-Asplin Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science M.S. Marine Biology Nova Southeastern University Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography November 2018 Approved: Thesis Committee Major Professor: Nicole D. Fogarty, Ph.D. Committee Member: Ronald Hill, Ph.D. Committee Member: Lisa Greer, Ph.D. Committee Member: Bernhard Riegl, Ph.D. This thesis is available at NSUWorks: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_stuetd/498 HALMOS COLLEGE OF NATURAL SCIENCES AND OCEANOGRAPHY POPULATION DYNAMICS AND GENOTYPIC RICHNESS OF THE THREATENED ACROPORA SPP. AND THEIR HYBRID IN THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS By Hannah F. Nylander-Asplin Submitted to the Faculty of Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science with a specialty in: Marine Science Nova Southeastern University i Acknowledgements First and foremost, I am thankful to my major advisor and mentor, Dr. Nicole Fogarty, for selecting me to work on this project. I struggle to imagine where my life would be if it weren’t for the opportunities that working with her have provided. I am forever grateful for the knowledge and skills that I have gained, experiences I have had and people that I have met through working with Dr. Fogarty. Thank you for trusting me with the project and letting me grow as a student, researcher and person. A special thanks to Dr. Ronald Hill and Jennifer Doerr from NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, for without them this project would quite literally not exist. Thank you for the amazing weeks that I was able to work with you in the field and for your continued support and commitment to this project. I wouldn’t want to experience finding surprise hybrid colonies with anyone else! I would also like to thank Dr. Lisa Greer and Lauren McManus from Washington and Lee University for sharing their methodology and insight. Thank you, Dr. Hill and Dr. Greer, and Dr. Bernhard Riegl, for serving as committee members on this thesis. An endless thank you to all of the members, past and present, of the Reproductive and Evolutionary Ecology-Fogarty lab; Kelly Pitts, Murphy McDonald, Alicia Vollmer, Leah Harper, Morgan Hightshoe, Megan Bock, Kory Enneking and Cassie VanWynen. I would like to especially thank Alicia for teaching me molecular techniques, and Cassie and Kory, for your assistance in analyzing photographs. I could not have achieved such success in graduate school without my amazing friend group. A special thanks to Kelly Pitts, Murphy McDonald and Morgan Stephenson. I can’t imagine more incredible friends, lab mates, fellow students, sounding boards, sources of laughter and endless joy. Your friendships truly mean the world to me and I am so thankful that I was able to experience graduate school with you by my side. To Keri Baker, and Jaime Goldman, thank you for your positivity and friendship through the ups and downs. I also would like to thank all my fellow classmates who made graduate school such an unforgettable experience. Thank you! Finally, I would like to recognize my family. Mom, Dad, Hope and Will. Thank you for your time, patients and steadfast support. You have nurtured my love for animals and fostered my intense and endless fascination with the world around us. Without you, I know I certainly wouldn’t be here. Thank you for listening, providing advice, and helping me kick it into gear when I needed some outside motivation. Your love and encouragement never go unnoticed. This research was funded in part by the AMLC Student-Grants-in-Aid Grant and by the National Science Foundation (OCE-1538469). Permits were issued by the Government of the Virgin Islands of the United States Department of Planning and Natural Resources Division of Fish and Wildlife. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ................................................................................................................... IV List of Figures .................................................................................................................... V Abstract ............................................................................................................................ VI Chapter 1- Introduction ....................................................................................................1 Hybridizing Systems in Nature .........................................................................................1 Caribbean Acroporids ......................................................................................................3 Potential Impacts of Hybridization ..................................................................................6 Objectives .........................................................................................................................8 Chapter 2- Publication ......................................................................................................9 Introduction ....................................................................................................................9 Materials and Methods ................................................................................................13 Location and Photography Setup ...............................................................................13 Coral Cover Analysis..................................................................................................14 Tissue Sampling ..........................................................................................................15 Genetic Analysis.......................................................................................................17 Statistical Analysis ...................................................................................................18 Results ...........................................................................................................................18 Percent Coral Cover and Tissue Conditions .........................................................18 Genotypic Distribution...........................................................................................22 Discussion ......................................................................................................................26 Chapter 3- Discussion ......................................................................................................33 Literature Cited ...............................................................................................................38 iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Sampling Distribution Across Sites .....................................................................15 Table 2. Characteristics of Microsatellite Loci ..................................................................24 Table 3. Genotypic Richness Among Sites........................................................................24 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Morphological Differences ...................................................................................5 Figure 1. Acropora cervicornis cooccurring with the hybrid ............................................11 Figure 2. Study Location....................................................................................................13 Figure 3. Examples of Standardized Transect Photo .........................................................14 Figure 4. Sampling Locations ............................................................................................16 Figure 5. Percent Coral Cover of A. cervicornis at Thatch Cay ........................................19 Figure 6. Average Coral Cover of A. cervicornis at Lovango Cay ....................................20 Figure 7. Average Coral Cover at No-Name Bay ..............................................................21 Figure 8. Pooling All Transects Within a Site ...................................................................22 Figure 9. Sea Surface Temperature at No-Name Bay ........................................................23 Figure 10. Relative Genotypic Richness ............................................................................25 v ABSTRACT Since the 1980’s, there has been an unprecedented decline in the reef-building Caribbean corals, Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata, which has led to their listing as “threatened” under the U.S Endangered Species Act. Despite this protective status, these Acropora species continue
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