Population structure of shallow water coral Madracis auretenra (Pocilloporidae: Anthozoa) in the Colombian Caribbean-Preliminary results

Current coral reef ecosystems show a massive decrease in their populations due mainly to overexploitation and climate change. As a consequence of this deterioration, several Marine Protected Areas (MPA) have been created to... [ view full abstract ]

Current coral reef ecosystems show a massive decrease in their populations due mainly to overexploitation and climate change. As a consequence of this deterioration, several Marine Protected Areas (MPA) have been created to preserve the connectivity dynamics between organisms and reefs. In order to design these reserves of biodiversity (MPAs) it is necessary to have information about the genetic exchange among coral populations to allow estimating the consequences of anthropogenic and natural effects (essential to understand the reef resilience against stochastic events). For this reason, to improve conservation strategies for these ecosystems, we need to understand; (1) What is the genetic structure of the coral M. auretenra in the Colombian Caribbean; (2) What is the connectivity level of this shallow coral in Colombian reefs; and (3) How is the genetic structure of M. auretenra between Colombia and other Caribbean reefs? We developed 36 new molecular markers (microsatellites) for Madracis auretenra (Pocilloporidae: Anthozoa), using the bioinformatics tool Pal Finder from the Galaxy Centaurus Server, developed by the Preziosi’s Lab at Manchester Metropolitan University. We already tested the primers and obtained amplification for all the 36 primers. We are now testing the primers in 147 samples from seven localities, distributed across the Colombian Caribbean. We expect to identify several populations in Colombia and compare the results with samples from the Caribbean. These results will support effectiveness assessments of MPAs design and will promote the understanding of the connectivity dynamics and the effects of anthropogenic stochastic events against coral reef ecosystems.