Acronym CONNECT
Category
Fisheries
Title Assessment of connectivity between marine populations using genetic and oceanographic modelling tools Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Henry Queiroga Coordinator email NA
Coordinator institution
CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (Portugal)
Institutions involved
NA - Institute of Agricultural and Agro-Food Sciences and Technologies (Portugal) ,
Start year 2008 End year 2011 Funding (€) € 150,000 Website https://www.cesam-la.pt/projetos/connect-avaliacao-da-conectividade-entre-populacoes-marinhas-utilizando-ferramentas-geneticas-e-de-modelacao-oceanografica/ Summary "The Connect project concerns the assessment of the spatial scales of connectivity of populations of a coastal species, along demographic units arranged according to a stepping-stone array. In marine species with indirect development (i.e., with a larval stage) the flow of genes between populations depends on the distance separating the populations, as well as the interaction between the duration of larval development, larval behavior and circulation patterns.
The project will look at this problem in the crab Carcinus maenas, which forms large estuarine populations along the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula. C. maenas has a larval stage that develops in coastal waters for 4 to 6 weeks, from late winter to early summer. During this period of the year, the coastal ocean of the west of the Iberian Peninsula is subject to two different circulation regimes: a flow towards the pole during the winter, forced by the winds from the southern quadrant associated with the passage of cold fronts, and a flow towards the equator after the transition from the spring onwards, when the winds from the northern quadrant favorable to the coastal upwelling dominate the atmospheric circulation. During the breeding season, several discontinuous episodes of larval supply to estuaries can be detected. The Connect project will look at the following questions:
1. Is there any geographical structure of genetic differentiation along the population alignment of the species?
2. How do supply episodes in a particular estuary (e.g., the Ria de Aveiro) correlate with forcing agents?
3. What is the probable origin of the larvae that are fed to a particular estuary (e.g., the Ria de Aveiro) in each feeding episode?
4. What is the allelic composition of the individuals of each population and of each episode of supply?
5. Are there differences in the connectivity of populations within different coastal segments, associated with different oceanographic regimes across the geographic range of populations?
The Connect project will use a set of 20 DNA markers (microsatellites) to describe the genetic structure of populations along a geographical gradient stretching from Asturias to the Algarve. The larvae supplied to the Ria de Aveiro will also be analysed against the same set of markers. If there is a geographical structure of genetic differentiation, then it should be possible to attribute the origin of the larvae recruiting in the Ria de Aveiro to a particular population or set of adjacent populations. A numerical model of ocean circulation will also be used, associated with a model that simulates the individual behavior of the larvae, in order to describe the advective history of the larvae that constitute each of the supply episodes, which will allow the investigation of possible differences in connectivity throughout the set of populations.
Through the use of multiple tools – assessment of geographic structure, identification of larval origin populations, and modelling of dispersal distances based on oceanography and larval behaviour – we hope that the Connect project can contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate gene flow and connectivity between populations of marine organisms."
Keywords
Larval dispersion;
Recruitment;
Larvae;
Crab;
Crustacean;
Genetic;
Shellfish;
Marine Region
38
Portuguese Waters (27.IXa,27.IXb)
1
Marine Region Map
