Dr Georgina Wood1, Dr Kingsley Griffin1, Jane Edgeloe1, Dr Karen Filbee-Dexter1,2, Professor Thomas Wernberg1,2, Adjunct Professor Melinda Coleman1,3
1UWA Oceans Institute and School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, 2Institute of Marine Research, His, Norway, 3NSW Fisheries, Department of Primary Industries, Coffs Harbour, Australia
The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the Decade of Restoration have strengthened global efforts to farm, restore and ‘future-proof’ declining seaweed forests. These efforts require informed selection of genetic units (sources of seaweed seedstock) to avoid negative effects on populations and optimise restoration and future-proofing success – but these data are lacking for most seaweed species and regions globally. To close this gap, we developed a global database of seaweed genetic structure mined from 96 datasets, covering 35 species of high conservation and farming value. We modelled seaweed genetic turnover as a function of geography, ocean currents and local environmental conditions using generalised dissimilarity models (GDMs). Among all species, around half of seaweed genetic differentiation was attributed to geographic distance between populations, and a quarter of seaweed genetic differentiation was associated with local environmental conditions, though the ability to resolve such patterns varied highly among species, regions, and molecular markers. We then applied the best GDM to map each species’ genetic structure across their respective global range. These maps allow the delineation of seaweed populations that are genetically similar, unique or vulnerable to environmental change. These results are being collated in an interactive web tool to enable environmental managers, seaweed farmers and restoration practitioners to quickly identify populations of high conservation value, identify suitable areas to source seaweed populations for restoration or farming and to maximise future-proofing potential to increase resilience to climate change.
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