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Long-term population genetic dynamics of the invasive ascidian Botryllus schlosseri, lately introduced to Puget Sound (Washington, USA) marinas
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  • Jann Zwahlen,
  • Eitan Reem,
  • Jacob Douek,
  • Baruch Rinkevich
Jann Zwahlen
Universita del Salento

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Eitan Reem
Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research
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Jacob Douek
Israel oceanographic and Limnological Research
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Baruch Rinkevich
Israel Oceanogrphic and Limnological Research
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Abstract

Invasive species are of increasing concern to the local biodiversity and ecology as the magnitude of biological invasions is increasing globally. The genetic structures of newly established invasive populations may reveal insights towards the invasion processes, making population genetics an important tool for understanding current invasions. Here we study newly established populations (<10-20 years before first sampling) of the cosmopolitan alien ascidian Botryllus schlosseri in four Puget Sound (Washington, USA) marinas, using eight polymorphic microsatellites. Up to seven sampling sessions over a period of 19 years revealed populations with fluctuating allelic richness (AR=2.693-4.417) and gene diversity (He=0.362-0.589). The populations were well differentiated on spatial and temporal scales and subjected to moderate genetic drift (Fs’=0.027-0.071). The obtained significant heterozygote deficiencies, positive inbreeding coefficients (Fis) and population structure measures (Fst) revealed that no population was under the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Comparing these parameters with those from two Californian sites (Moss Landing and Santa Cruz, 1200 km southerly; invaded by Botryllus during 1940’s) revealed a connection between Moss Landing and Puget Sound, while Santa Cruz remained isolated. On the US west coast scale, this study revealed no major difference in invasive population dynamics between recently and decade long established populations, except for fewer alleles and lower He. When comparing ten worldwide sites, only few microsatellite loci displayed strong regional differences. With globally the lowest numbers of alleles and lowest genetic indices, the Puget Sound Botryllus populations exhibit genetic characteristics of recently established populations, further emerging as one of the youngest B. schlosseri populations, worldwide.
12 Jun 2020Submitted to Molecular Ecology
16 Jun 2020Submission Checks Completed
16 Jun 2020Assigned to Editor
28 Jun 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
11 Aug 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
Jun 2022Published in Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science volume 270 on pages 107840. 10.1016/j.ecss.2022.107840