Meeting Abstract

28.4  Monday, Jan. 5  Connectivity Patterns of Two Hawaiian Marine Gastropods Posessing Nonpelagic Development CHANEY, N.L.*; DEMAINTENON, M.J.; University of Hawaii, Hilo; University of Hawaii, Hilo chaney@hawaii.edu

Connectivity of benthic marine gastropods in Hawaii is poorly understood due to the lack of extensive studies. In species lacking a pelagic larval phase, connectivity between populations would be expected to be low because of limited dispersal ability. To test if geographic distance is related to genetic distance, we sampled two nonpelagic developers from the Superfamily Buccinoidea, Mitrella fusiformis and Peristernia chlorostoma. These two species both occur in the subtidal marine environment within shallow, protected inlets along the coast of the Hawaiian Islands. Samples of Mitrella fusiformis were collected from three locations on the island of Hawaii and from two locations on the island of Kauai. Samples of Peristernia chlorostoma were collected from numerous sites across the Hawaiian archipelago. Overall, the neighbor joining tree analysis of both species places geographically nearer populations closer together on the tree. The resulting DNA sequences from Mitrella fusiformis, spanning a 360 base pair (b.p.) section of the mitochondrial COI gene, show evidence that there is clustering in genetic variability of within island populations. The 656 b.p. COI sequences from Peristernia chlorostoma also exhibit this clustering of within island populations. In addition, there are differences in sequence between populations that are located less than 1 km apart from each other. These data support the concept that some nonpelagic developers form distinct, localized populations and that connectivity between populations may be very low. Understanding these gastropods connectivity may provide information important to other nonpelagic species, and help to associate and utilize these patterns within the context of marine conservation.