Journal
ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
Volume 191, Issue 2, Pages 434-453Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa066
Keywords
conservation genetics; evolutionary potential; foraging grounds; geometric morphometrics; morphotypes; natal homing behaviour; natural selection; phenotypic variation
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Funding
- National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research of Chile (CONICYT)
- Nucleo Milenio de Ecologia y Manejo Sustentable de Islas Oceanicas (ESMOI)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- RUFFORD Small Grant
- IDEA WILD
- Chilean Government Environmental Protection Fund (FPA)
- University of Costa Rica through the Integral Network of Marine Turtles in the Eastern Pacific (RITMA)
- Leatherback Trust
- Veritas University
- Surfari del Mar
- Centro de Rescate de Especies Marinas Amenazadas (CREMA)
- Turner Foundation
- National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
- DEFRA Darwin Initiative
- Sea Life Trust
- Institute of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Massey University
- NOAA Fisheries PIRO [NA17NMF4540081]
- CONICYT Beca Doctorado Nacional [21160168]
- Universidad de Tarapaca UTA Proyectos de Pregrado [9720-17]
- CONICYT Redes de Investigacion [REDI170182]
- Department of Conservation and the Northland Community, New Zealand
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In highly mobile marine vertebrates like the green turtle, genetic and phenotypic differentiation patterns are congruent between lineages, with adaptive divergence suggested at fine scales. Connectivity among Pacific foraging grounds may be influenced by ocean surface current temperatures, shaping the genetic structure of C. mydas at broad scales. Factors like vicariance, dispersal, life-history traits, and ecological conditions in foraging grounds have shaped the intraspecific morphology and genetic diversity of this species.
Patterns of genetic structure in highly mobile marine vertebrates may be accompanied by phenotypic variation. Most studies in marine turtles focused on population genetic structure have been performed at rookeries. We studied whether genetic and morphological variation of the endangered green turtle (Chelonia mydas) is consistent geographically, focusing on foraging grounds. An association between population genetic structure and body shape variation at broad (inter-lineage) and fine (foraging grounds) scales was predicted and analysed using mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometrics. Although genetic and phenotypic differentiation patterns were congruent between lineages, no fine-scale association was found, suggesting adaptive divergence. Connectivity among Pacific foraging grounds found here suggests that temperatures of ocean surface currents may influence the genetic structure of C. mydas on a broad scale. Our results suggest that vicariance, dispersal, life-history traits and ecological conditions operating in foraging grounds have shaped the intraspecific morphology and genetic diversity of this species. Considering a range of geographic and temporal scales is useful when management strategies are required for cosmopolitan species. Integrating morphological and genetic tools at different spatial scales, conservation management is proposed based on protection of neutral and adaptive diversity. This approach opens new questions and challenges, especially regarding conservation genetics in cosmopolitan species.
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