Carr M, Kratochwill C, Daly-Engel T, Crombie T, van Woesik R
Institute for Global Ecology, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida, United States of America.
Department of Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2025 Jan 22;20(1):e0316380. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0316380. eCollection 2025.
Marine heatwaves are increasing in intensity and frequency however, responses and survival of reef corals vary geographically. Geographical differences in thermal tolerance may be in part a consequence of intraspecific diversity, where high-diversity localities are more likely to support heat-tolerant alleles that promote survival through thermal stress. Here, we assessed geographical patterns of intraspecific genetic diversity in the ubiquitous coral Pocillopora damicornis species complex using 428 sequences of the Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (ITS2) region across 44 sites in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. We focused on detecting genetic diversity hotspots, wherein some individuals are likely to possess gene variants that tolerate marine heatwaves. A deep-learning, multi-layer neural-network model showed that geographical location played a major role in intraspecific diversity, with mean sea-surface temperature and oceanic regions being the most influential predictor variables differentiating diversity. The highest estimate of intraspecific variation was recorded in French Polynesia and Southeast Asia. The corals on these reefs are more likely than corals elsewhere to harbor alleles with adaptive potential to survive climate change, so managers should prioritize high-diversity regions when forming conservation goals.
然而,海洋热浪的强度和频率正在增加,珊瑚礁珊瑚的反应和生存情况在地理上存在差异。耐热性的地理差异可能部分是种内多样性的结果,在高多样性地区更有可能存在耐热等位基因,这些等位基因通过热应激促进生存。在这里,我们利用太平洋和印度洋44个地点的428个内转录间隔区2(ITS2)区域序列,评估了常见珊瑚鹿角杯形珊瑚物种复合体种内遗传多样性的地理模式。我们专注于检测遗传多样性热点,其中一些个体可能拥有耐受海洋热浪的基因变体。一个深度学习的多层神经网络模型表明,地理位置在种内多样性中起主要作用,平均海表面温度和海洋区域是区分多样性的最具影响力的预测变量。种内变异的最高估计值出现在法属波利尼西亚和东南亚。这些珊瑚礁上的珊瑚比其他地方的珊瑚更有可能拥有具有适应气候变化生存潜力的等位基因,因此管理者在制定保护目标时应优先考虑高多样性地区。