Reevaluating claims of ecological speciation in Halichoeres bivittatus

© 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd..

Allopatry has traditionally been viewed as the primary driver of speciation in marine taxa, but the geography of the marine environment and the larval dispersal capabilities of many marine organisms render this view somewhat questionable. In marine fishes, one of the earliest and most highly cited empirical examples of ecological speciation with gene flow is the slippery dick wrasse, Halichoeres bivittatus. Evidence for this cryptic or incipient speciation event was primarily in the form of a deep divergence in a single mitochondrial locus between the northern and southern Gulf of Mexico, combined with a finding that these two haplotypes were associated with different habitat types ("tropical" vs. "subtropical") in the Florida Keys and Bermuda, where they overlap. Here, we examine habitat assortment in the Florida Keys using a broader sampling of populations and habitat types than were available for the original study. We find no evidence to support the claim that haplotype frequencies differ between habitat types, and little evidence to support any differences between populations in the Keys. These results undermine claims of ecological speciation with gene flow in Halichoeres bivittatus. Future claims of this type should be supported by multiple lines of evidence that illuminate potential mechanisms and allow researchers to rule out alternative explanations for spatial patterns of genetic differences.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:11

Enthalten in:

Ecology and evolution - 11(2021), 16 vom: 01. Aug., Seite 11449-11456

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Warren, Dan L [VerfasserIn]
Eytan, Ron I [VerfasserIn]
Dornburg, Alex [VerfasserIn]
Iglesias, Teresa L [VerfasserIn]
Brandley, Matthew C [VerfasserIn]
Wainwright, Peter C [VerfasserIn]

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Journal Article

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Date Revised 03.04.2024

published: Electronic-eCollection

Dryad: 10.5061/dryad.fj6q573vf

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.1002/ece3.7936

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM329731580