Volume 65
Genetic Analysis of Queen Conch Strombus gigas from the Southwest Caribbean
Authors
Márquez, E., R.M. Landínez-García, S.P. Ospina-Guerrero, J. Aicardo Segura, M. Prada, E. Castro, J.L. Correa, and C. Borda Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2012
Pages: 410 - 416
Event: Proceedings of the Sixty-Fifth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: Santa Marta
Country: Colombia
Abstract
Genetic connectivity among populations is of crucial importance in conservation and management of commercial threatened species. Here, we explored genetic connectivity and diversity from 490 queen conch Strombus gigas from nine oceanic atolls within the San Andres archipelago and three coastal islands closer to the colombian continental shelf (separated by more than 600 kilometers from the Archipelago), in the Southwestern Caribbean. Genetic differentiation was analyzed using the statistic ?ST provided by an analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) and by a spatial analysis of molecular variance (SAMOVA). Correlation between genetic and geographic distance was explored by using Mantel test. All loci were polymorphic with high number of alleles per locus and showed deficit of heterozygosity departing from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. We found evidence for up to four different genetic stocks without indication of isolation by distance. Based on these results, the recovery of S. gigas in the Southwest-ern Caribbean should require management considerations that address local and regional actions.