Abstract
In isolated or declining populations, viability may be compromised further by loss of genetic diversity. Therefore, it is important to understand the relationship between long-term ecological trajectories and population genetic structure. However, opportunities to combine these types of data are rare, especially in natural systems. Using an existing panel of 15 microsatellites, we estimated allelic diversity in seagrass, Zostera marina, at five sites around the Isles of Scilly Special Area of Conservation, UK, in 2010 and compared this to 23 years of annual ecological monitoring (1996–2018). We found low diversity and long-term declines in abundance in this relatively pristine but isolated location. Inclusion of the snapshot of genotypic, but less-so genetic, diversity improved prediction of abundance trajectories; however, this was spatial scale-dependent. Selection of the appropriate level of genetic organization and spatial scale for monitoring is, therefore, important to identify drivers of eco-evolutionary dynamics. This has implications for the use of population genetic information in conservation, management, and spatial planning.
Highlights
In isolated or declining populations, viability may be compromised further by loss of genetic diversity
The positive association between genetic diversity and population size has been predicted by theory[72] and supported empirically across a number of species and ecosystems[41]
This model has proved informative in both population dynamic[11,73,74] and population genetic studies[39,66] but these are rarely linked
Summary
In isolated or declining populations, viability may be compromised further by loss of genetic diversity. Selection of the appropriate level of genetic organization and spatial scale for monitoring is, important to identify drivers of eco-evolutionary dynamics. This has implications for the use of population genetic information in conservation, management, and spatial planning. It has become clear that it is necessary to identify the appropriate temporal and spatial scales to measure both genetic diversity and ecological indicators[10] This should be based on knowledge of the processes and mechanisms driving eco-evolutionary dynamics governing abundance and distribution. We set out to investigate this issue using the case study of a fragmented population of seagrass, subject to long-term ecological monitoring that allows us to quantify population dynamics over appropriate temporal and spatial scales[11]. These global declines are due to a variety of factors, related either directly (as a consequence of habitat destruction, reduced water quality, physical disturbance from commercial fishing, aquaculture, and invasive species) or indirectly (e.g., through climate change) to anthropogenic activities[14,26]
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