Population Dynamics of Ervilia castanea (Montagu, 1803) Hints at Evolutionary Processes Shaping North‐East Atlantic Insular Sandy Habitats
ABSTRACT Volcanic oceanic islands are some of the Earth's most geologically and ecologically dynamic habitats, where continuous volcanic activity and erosion lead to the formation of habitats that drastically change throughout their ontogeny. No more so than shallow‐water sandy habitats, which...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2025-06-01
|
| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71267 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1839636332674023424 |
|---|---|
| author | Livia Sinigaglia Lara Baptista Manuel Curto António Múrias Santos Patrícia Madeira Thapasya Vijayan Harald Meimberg Sérgio P. Ávila |
| author_facet | Livia Sinigaglia Lara Baptista Manuel Curto António Múrias Santos Patrícia Madeira Thapasya Vijayan Harald Meimberg Sérgio P. Ávila |
| author_sort | Livia Sinigaglia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT Volcanic oceanic islands are some of the Earth's most geologically and ecologically dynamic habitats, where continuous volcanic activity and erosion lead to the formation of habitats that drastically change throughout their ontogeny. No more so than shallow‐water sandy habitats, which repetitively disappear and regenerate due to seasonal oceanographic and climatic eustatic sea‐level variations. For their inhabitants, these events translate into populations being cyclically removed or experiencing drastic reductions in population size, where the outcome often depends on the specific life‐history modes of the species, determining their dispersal and colonization potential and, ultimately, their survival ability. Therefore, population genetic patterns of marine shallow‐water infaunal species can provide powerful clues to such outcomes, as well as how specific geological and ecological settings determine the genetic structure of the species. We herewith test the population structure of the marine infaunal bivalve Ervilia castanea (Montagu, 1803) in the sandy habitats of the Azores and Madeira Archipelagos (Northeast and Central Atlantic Ocean), by comparing insular populations with conspecifics from the nearest continental shores in mainland Europe. Little to no genetic structure was observed between insular populations with both nuclear microsatellites and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I. Moreover, deviations in the Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium of insular populations suggest the existence of archipelago‐specific processes. The high dispersal ability of E. castanea combined with the ephemeral nature of oceanic shallow‐water sandy habitats likely made each population composed of individuals from multiple sources. The high prevalence of null alleles and gene duplication hint at the potential occurrence of recent polyploidization events that require further investigation. Moreover, we found evidence of hyperdiversity among the markers used which may constrain the detection of more detailed patterns. We herewith demonstrate the uniqueness of insular environmental settings and inquire further into the evolutionary and biogeographic patterns of marine shallow‐water infaunal species from volcanic oceanic islands. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ec2c895fcf7d4c448018f70d80a4e2e1 |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj-art-ec2c895fcf7d4c448018f70d80a4e2e12025-07-08T03:21:23ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582025-06-01156n/an/a10.1002/ece3.71267Population Dynamics of Ervilia castanea (Montagu, 1803) Hints at Evolutionary Processes Shaping North‐East Atlantic Insular Sandy HabitatsLivia Sinigaglia0Lara Baptista1Manuel Curto2António Múrias Santos3Patrícia Madeira4Thapasya Vijayan5Harald Meimberg6Sérgio P. Ávila7Institute of Integrative Nature Conservation Research, Department of Ecosystem Management, Climate and Biodiversity BOKU University Vienna AustriaCIBIO, Centro de Investigação Em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos InBIO Laboratório Associado, Pólo dos Açores Azores PortugalAssociação BIOPOLIS ‐ Rede de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Biologia Evolutiva Vairão PortugalFaculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto Porto PortugalCIBIO, Centro de Investigação Em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos InBIO Laboratório Associado, Pólo dos Açores Azores PortugalInstitute of Integrative Nature Conservation Research, Department of Ecosystem Management, Climate and Biodiversity BOKU University Vienna AustriaInstitute of Integrative Nature Conservation Research, Department of Ecosystem Management, Climate and Biodiversity BOKU University Vienna AustriaCIBIO, Centro de Investigação Em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos InBIO Laboratório Associado, Pólo dos Açores Azores PortugalABSTRACT Volcanic oceanic islands are some of the Earth's most geologically and ecologically dynamic habitats, where continuous volcanic activity and erosion lead to the formation of habitats that drastically change throughout their ontogeny. No more so than shallow‐water sandy habitats, which repetitively disappear and regenerate due to seasonal oceanographic and climatic eustatic sea‐level variations. For their inhabitants, these events translate into populations being cyclically removed or experiencing drastic reductions in population size, where the outcome often depends on the specific life‐history modes of the species, determining their dispersal and colonization potential and, ultimately, their survival ability. Therefore, population genetic patterns of marine shallow‐water infaunal species can provide powerful clues to such outcomes, as well as how specific geological and ecological settings determine the genetic structure of the species. We herewith test the population structure of the marine infaunal bivalve Ervilia castanea (Montagu, 1803) in the sandy habitats of the Azores and Madeira Archipelagos (Northeast and Central Atlantic Ocean), by comparing insular populations with conspecifics from the nearest continental shores in mainland Europe. Little to no genetic structure was observed between insular populations with both nuclear microsatellites and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I. Moreover, deviations in the Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium of insular populations suggest the existence of archipelago‐specific processes. The high dispersal ability of E. castanea combined with the ephemeral nature of oceanic shallow‐water sandy habitats likely made each population composed of individuals from multiple sources. The high prevalence of null alleles and gene duplication hint at the potential occurrence of recent polyploidization events that require further investigation. Moreover, we found evidence of hyperdiversity among the markers used which may constrain the detection of more detailed patterns. We herewith demonstrate the uniqueness of insular environmental settings and inquire further into the evolutionary and biogeographic patterns of marine shallow‐water infaunal species from volcanic oceanic islands.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71267dispersal abilityErvilia castaneagenetic population structureoceanic islandssandy habitats |
| spellingShingle | Livia Sinigaglia Lara Baptista Manuel Curto António Múrias Santos Patrícia Madeira Thapasya Vijayan Harald Meimberg Sérgio P. Ávila Population Dynamics of Ervilia castanea (Montagu, 1803) Hints at Evolutionary Processes Shaping North‐East Atlantic Insular Sandy Habitats Ecology and Evolution dispersal ability Ervilia castanea genetic population structure oceanic islands sandy habitats |
| title | Population Dynamics of Ervilia castanea (Montagu, 1803) Hints at Evolutionary Processes Shaping North‐East Atlantic Insular Sandy Habitats |
| title_full | Population Dynamics of Ervilia castanea (Montagu, 1803) Hints at Evolutionary Processes Shaping North‐East Atlantic Insular Sandy Habitats |
| title_fullStr | Population Dynamics of Ervilia castanea (Montagu, 1803) Hints at Evolutionary Processes Shaping North‐East Atlantic Insular Sandy Habitats |
| title_full_unstemmed | Population Dynamics of Ervilia castanea (Montagu, 1803) Hints at Evolutionary Processes Shaping North‐East Atlantic Insular Sandy Habitats |
| title_short | Population Dynamics of Ervilia castanea (Montagu, 1803) Hints at Evolutionary Processes Shaping North‐East Atlantic Insular Sandy Habitats |
| title_sort | population dynamics of ervilia castanea montagu 1803 hints at evolutionary processes shaping north east atlantic insular sandy habitats |
| topic | dispersal ability Ervilia castanea genetic population structure oceanic islands sandy habitats |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71267 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT liviasinigaglia populationdynamicsoferviliacastaneamontagu1803hintsatevolutionaryprocessesshapingnortheastatlanticinsularsandyhabitats AT larabaptista populationdynamicsoferviliacastaneamontagu1803hintsatevolutionaryprocessesshapingnortheastatlanticinsularsandyhabitats AT manuelcurto populationdynamicsoferviliacastaneamontagu1803hintsatevolutionaryprocessesshapingnortheastatlanticinsularsandyhabitats AT antoniomuriassantos populationdynamicsoferviliacastaneamontagu1803hintsatevolutionaryprocessesshapingnortheastatlanticinsularsandyhabitats AT patriciamadeira populationdynamicsoferviliacastaneamontagu1803hintsatevolutionaryprocessesshapingnortheastatlanticinsularsandyhabitats AT thapasyavijayan populationdynamicsoferviliacastaneamontagu1803hintsatevolutionaryprocessesshapingnortheastatlanticinsularsandyhabitats AT haraldmeimberg populationdynamicsoferviliacastaneamontagu1803hintsatevolutionaryprocessesshapingnortheastatlanticinsularsandyhabitats AT sergiopavila populationdynamicsoferviliacastaneamontagu1803hintsatevolutionaryprocessesshapingnortheastatlanticinsularsandyhabitats |