Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2015
Journal / Book Title
Aquatic Botany
Abstract
John, American Virgin Island turtlegrass are not clonal populations. John's populations have high connectivity to each other. We assessed Thalassia testudinum population genetics among four bays in St. John (United States Virgin Islands), a protected UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Our results suggest that the St. John T. testudinum populations have (1) high sexual reproduction rates, (2) high levels of genetic diversity and low levels of inbreeding relative to other seagrass populations in less protected geographic areas, and (3) high connectivity when separated by up to 12. km. Pairwise FST values among the island populations ranged from 0.035 to 0.148. Additionally, we found that the T. testudinum outgroup population from an anthropogenically stressed bay in Florida is surprisingly diverse and shows few signs of inbreeding.
DOI
10.1016/j.aquabot.2015.01.008
Montclair State University Digital Commons Citation
Campanella, James; Bologna, Paul; Carvalho, Maria; Smalley, John V.; Elakhrass, Mohamedhakim; Meredith, Robert; and Zaben, Nadia, "Clonal Diversity and Connectedness of Turtle Grass (Thalassia Testudinum) Populations in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve" (2015). Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 180.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/biology-facpubs/180
Published Citation
Campanella, J. J., Bologna, P. A., Carvalho, M., Smalley, J. V., Elakhrass, M., Meredith, R. W., & Zaben, N. (2015). Clonal diversity and connectedness of turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum) populations in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Aquatic Botany, 123, 76-82.