Unraveling hierarchical genetic structure in a marine metapopulation: A comparison of three high‐throughput genotyping approaches

High-throughput genotyping reveals subtle hierarchical genetic structures within the coral reef fish Elacatinus lori across the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, including previously undetected patterns of isolation by distance and differentiation between the barrier reef and Turneffe Atoll. The study compared three marker sets—2,418 SNPs, 89 microsatellites, and 57 nonrepetitive nuclear loci—finding that SNPs were most effective at resolving fine-scale structure. Sampling 1,129 individuals from 35 sites at ~10 km intervals demonstrated the power of high-resolution genetic data to uncover complex metapopulation dynamics in marine systems.

D’Aloia, C. C., Andrés, J. A., Bogdanowicz, S. M., McCune, A. R., Harrison, R. G., & Buston, P. M. (2020). Unraveling hierarchical genetic structure in a marine metapopulation: A comparison of three high‐throughput genotyping approaches. Molecular Ecology, 29(12), 2189–2203. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15405