CONNECTIVITY STUDIES

Coral reef invertebrates and fish

Dr. Rob Toonen examines a sample collected in the Monument. (C.Wiener)

‘opihi ‘alinalina, a limpet species examined in connectivity studies.

Research student Jennifer Schultz processes a sample for genetic analysis.

The genetic survey of fish and invertebrate species is designed to assess the level of connectivity between the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) and the Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI). Scientists have long debated whether the division between the MHI and NWHI is a biological or socio-political one. Managers and lawmakers want to determine whether the NWHI serves as a source or a sink of source of larvae that produce the next generation of fish and invertebrates for the MHI. A similar discussion asks whether the NWHI are a series of relatively fragile (isolated) ecosystems that must be managed atoll-by-atoll, or whether the Archipelago is a single ecosystem that can withstand human influences such as debris accumulation, pollution and global climate change. Population connectivity can be determined using genetics across a broad range of coral reef invertebrates and fishes with widely varying life history characteristics.

Over the past three years during research cruises, scientists have accumulated non-lethal tissue samples and fin clips from nearly 30 different species of invertebrates and common reef fish. Results argue that no single species appears to be a good predictor of population structure for others, regardless of ecological similarity. Consistent breaks in the population structure in a majority of invertebrate species surveyed to date indicate that the species in the Hawaiian Archipelago do not belong to a single interbreeding population. Preliminary results suggest that there can be large differences among species in their degree of connectivity throughout the Archipelago.

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Recent papers related to this work

Duncan, K.M., A.P. Martin, B.W. Bowen, and G.H. de Couet. 2006. Global phylogeography of the scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini). Molecular Ecology 15:2239-2251

Daly-Engel, T., R.D. Grubbs, K. Holland, R.J. Toonen, and B.W. Bowen. 2006. Multiple paternity assessments for three species of congeneric sharks (Carcharhinus) in Hawaii. Environmental Biology of Fishes 76:419-424.

Daly-Engel, T., R. Grubbs, B.W. Bowen, and R.J. Toonen. 2007. Frequency of multiple paternity in an unexploited tropical population of sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 64: 198-204.

Craig, M.T., J.A. Eble, D.R. Robertson, B.W. Bowen. 2007. High genetic connectivity across the Indian and Pacific Oceans in the reef fish Myripristis berndti (Holocentridae). Marine Ecology Progress Series 334: 245–254.

Schultz, J.K., R.L. Pyle, E. DeMartini, and B.W. Bowen. 2007. Genetic homogeneity among color morphs of the flame angelfish, Centropyge loriculus. Marine Biology 151: 167-175.

Friedlander, A., J. Caselle, J. Beets, C. Lowe, B.W. Bowen, T. Ogawa, K. Kelly, T. Calitri, M. Lange, and B. Anderson. 2007. Aspects of the biology, ecology, and recreational fishery for bonefish at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, with comparisons to other Pacific Islands. Pp. 28-56 In J.S. Ault (ed.) Biology and Management of the world tarpon and bonefish fisheries. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL

Bowen, B.W., S.A. Karl, and E. Pfeiler. 2007. Resolving evolutionary lineages and taxonomy of bonefishes (Albula spp.). Pp. 147-154 In J.S. Ault (ed.) Biology and Management of the world tarpon and bonefish fisheries. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL

Bird, C.J., B.S. Holland, B.W. Bowen, and R.J. Toonen. 2007. Contrasting population structure in three endemic Hawaiian limpets (Cellana spp.) with similar life histories. Molecular Ecology 16:3173-3186.

Rocha, L.A., M.T. Craig, and B.W. Bowen. 2007. Phylogeography and the conservation genetics of coral reef fishes. Coral Reefs Invited Review 26: 501-512.

Bowen, B.W., and S.A. Karl. 2007. Population genetics and phylogeography of sea turtles. Invited review, Molecular Ecology 16: 4886–4907.

Castro A.L.F., Stewart B.S., Wilson S.G., Hueter R.H., Meekan M.G., Motta P.J., Bowen B.W., Karl S.A. 2007. Population genetic structure of the world’s largest fish, the whale shark (Rhincodon typus). Molecular Ecology 16: 5183-5192.

Rocha, L.A. and B.W. Bowen. 2008. Speciation in coral reef fishes. Journal of Fish Biology 72, Invited Review, 1101-1121.

Theisen, T.C., B.W. Bowen, W. Lanier, and J.D. Baldwin. 2008. Lack of global population structure in the pelagic wahoo, Acanthocybium solandri (tuna family Scombridae). Molecular Ecology In press

Schultz, J.K., J.D. Baker, R.J. Toonen, B.W. Bowen. 2008. Extremely low genetic diversity in the endangered Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi). Journal of Heredity.

Gaither, M.R., R.J. Toonen, D.R. Robertson, S. Planes, and B.W. Bowen. 2008. Pleistocene refugia and biogeographic barriers in the dispersive reef fish Lutjanus kasmira. Submitted

Eble, J.A., R.J. Toonen, B.W. Bowen. 2008. Endemism and dispersal: comparative phylogeography of three surgeonfish species across the Hawaiian Archipelago. Submitted