Journal
PLOS ONE
Volume 9, Issue 8, Pages -Publisher
PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104073
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion of Spain [CTM2010-18787]
- Xunta de Galicia [10MMA103003PR]
- European Community-Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 Capacities'' Specific Programme (ASSEMBLE grant) [227799]
- Xunta de Galicia Axudas a etapa predoutoral do Plan [I2C-2011]
- Spain's Ministerio de Educacion Programa FPU
- Universidade da Coruna Contratos Predoutorais
- Xunta de Galicia Axudas posdoutorais do Plan [I2C-2012]
- Action Transversale du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle
- project Taxonomie moleculaire: DNA Barcode et gestion durable des collections
- FEDER, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Maerl beds are sensitive biogenic habitats built by an accumulation of loose-lying, non-geniculate coralline algae. While these habitats are considered hot-spots of marine biodiversity, the number and distribution of maerl-forming species is uncertain because homoplasy and plasticity of morphological characters are common. As a result, species discrimination based on morphological features is notoriously challenging, making these coralline algae the ideal candidates for a DNA barcoding study. Here, mitochondrial (COI-5P DNA barcode fragment) and plastidial (psbA gene) sequence data were used in a two-step approach to delimit species in 224 collections of maerl sampled from Svalbard (78 degrees 96'N) to the Canary Islands (28 degrees 64'N) that represented 10 morphospecies from four genera and two families. First, the COI-5P dataset was analyzed with two methods based on distinct criteria (ABGD and GMYC) to delineate 16 primary species hypotheses (PSHs) arranged into four major lineages. Second, chloroplast (psbA) sequence data served to consolidate these PSHs into 13 secondary species hypotheses (SSHs) that showed biologically plausible ranges. Using several lines of evidence (e.g. morphological characters, known species distributions, sequences from type and topotype material), six SSHs were assigned to available species names that included the geographically widespread Phymatolithon calcareum, Lithothamnion corallioides, and L. glaciale; possible identities of other SSHs are discussed. Concordance between SSHs and morphospecies was minimal, highlighting the convenience of DNA barcoding for an accurate identification of maerl specimens. Our survey indicated that a majority of maerl forming species have small distribution ranges and revealed a gradual replacement of species with latitude.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available