Meeting Abstract
Observations of larval behavior and patterns of recruitment of the Caribbean octocoral Antillogorgia elisabethae suggest that its negatively buoyant larvae do not disperse over great distances. Microsatellite analyses of adults from 13 sites in the northern Bahamas and from recruits from 4 sites on the Little Bahama Bank identified a pattern of isolation by distance among the adult populations and recruits that most likely come from the same or adjacent sites. Analysis of molecular variance indicates that the source(s) of recruits were not different between years nor were the recruits different from the populations of adults at the sites. Assignment tests of recruits were unable to unambiguously assign recruits to origins from individual sites, but for each recruit the most likely source was generally the local or adjacent population. The vast majority of recruits were assigned to the Little Bahama Bank sites. Assignment tests also suggest some differences in the extent of self-recruitment between sites. Recognition of these complex patterns is important in developing management and conservation plans for A. elisabethae and similar species.
