Dr David Aguirre1, Dr Vanessa Arranz1, Dr Jose Ignacio Carvajal1,2, Dr Libby Liggins1
1Massey University , Auckland, New Zealand, 2Plant and Food Research, Mount Albert, New Zealand
Kelp forest ecosystems dominate temperate and sub-polar coasts around the world, and while the key species vary from region to region, kelp forests are often dominated by a single seaweed species. Thus, the biodiversity and functioning of these reef ecosystems are intimately linked to the population dynamics of a single ecosystem engineer. This strong link between intraspecific variation in seaweed populations and variation in the composition of kelp forest assemblages makes this an ideal experimental system to examine linkages between ecological and evolutionary change. Here, we estimated relatedness among individuals of Ecklonia radiata in a wild population using genome-wide genetic markers and then used community DNA metabarcoding to determine the composition of communities inhabiting the holdfasts of these sampled individuals. Using this relatedness information, we partitioned phenotypic variation in kelp morphological traits and composition of kelp-holdfast communities. We found relatively high relatedness among sampled individuals indicative of moderate levels of inbreeding. Variance partitioning showed that not only was phenotypic variation in kelp morphological traits heritable, kelp-holdfast communities associated with more closely related individuals are more similar than distantly related individuals. The lack of functional redundancy makes kelp forests ecosystems sensitive to global-change meditated population contractions with recognised consequences for biodiversity as well as human health and livelihoods. Our data show that even subtle changes in the distribution of heritable genetic variation within populations of E. radiata will have widespread, and easily overlooked consequences for the distribution of biodiversity.
Presentation Slides – David Aguirre
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