Title : Linking Plant Demography, Ecological Dynamics And Population Genetics Across Space And Time
Abstract:
Connectivity between populations is vital to the survival of extinction-prone plants, including those at risk from local environmental change, as well as pests and pathogens, with globally important implications for applied plant ecology. The metapopulation concept has become the dominant paradigm for exploring the role of connectivity in this context. However, many metapopulation models incorporate very little detail about the underlying dispersal mechanisms (demography), and measures of connectivity based on contemporary dynamics and population genetics.
Seagrass is a group of flowering plants that live in shallow sheltered areas along the UK coastline where they form dense green meadows under the sea. It is one of the most significant sources of coastal primary production and it provides a critical habitat for juvenile reef fish and commercial fisheries. During the course of a long-term study of metapopulation dynamics in the seagrass, Zostera marina, around the Isles of Scilly, UK, we quantified demographic heterogeneity, population trends and spatial correlations within and between sampling sites. Here, we compare estimates of population connectivity inferred from these ecological dynamics with estimates of connectivity derived from a published panel of fifteen polymorphic microsatellites DNA markers. We test hypotheses on how long term declines in local seagrass populations are predicted to result in restricted genetic diversity and departure from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. We also explore whether spatial connectivity between local sites mitigates against population genetic changes at the broader spatial scale.
This project will aim to combine detailed measurements on individual plants with eco-evolutionary modelling and the latest population genetic and genomic approaches, to better understand the link between demography, dynamics and diversity. The over-arching goal of this study is to gain an understanding of the spatial population genetics of eelgrass, Zostera marina.
