DOI: 10.5061/dryad.tj146fn
title: Data from: Population connectivity among shallow and mesophotic Montastraea cavernosa corals in the Gulf of Mexico identifies potential for refugia

description: Successful management of spatially isolated coral reefs is contingent on
 an understanding of ecological connections across populations. To
 investigate genetic connectivity of the depth-generalist coral species
 Montastraea cavernosa, populations from both shallow (15–30 m) and
 mesophotic coral ecosystems (30–70 m) in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) were
 analyzed with microsatellite genotyping. A series of upstream and
 downstream sites were chosen in marine protected areas including Carrie
 Bow Cay, Belize; Flower Garden Banks and nearby mesophotic bank habitats;
 Pulley Ridge; and Dry Tortugas. Patterns of genetic diversity within the
 northwest GOM supported relatively open coral populations with high levels
 of gene flow between shallow and mesophotic depth zones, consistent with
 strong oceanographic patterns and hypothesized availability of coral reef
 habitats in the GOM. Conversely, genetic differentiation within Belize and
 the southeast GOM indicate relative isolation of shallow and mesophotic M.
 cavernosa populations in these regions. Structure analysis showed dominant
 genetic clusters within each region that did not correlate strongly with
 depth zones, and identified a cluster of unknown origin contributing to
 high differentiation at Pulley Ridge. Migration modeling predicted
 historical region-wide panmixia for most regions, with Pulley Ridge
 appearing to be a potential sink population. The GOM appears to
 demonstrate stronger evidence of vertical connectivity compared to
 elsewhere in the Tropical Western Atlantic, which may be the result of
 oceanographic variability and/or lack of local selection at depth. These
 findings are consistent with previous studies identifying genetic
 connectivity of broadcast-spawning corals across broad spatial scales and
 highlight the potential importance of mesophotic habitats in the GOM as
 larval sources to geographically distant populations.
description: M. cavernosa
 genotypesDatasheet containing
 Montastraea cavernosa multi-locus genotypes for 9 microsatellite loci
 (developed by Serrano et al. 2014) assessing population structure across
 shallow and mesophotic coral ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico. See readme
 for column descriptions.Studivan and Voss_GOM_Mcav
 genotypes.xlsxStructure input
 fileMulti-locus genotypes
 for M. cavernosa from the GOM, formatted for Structure
 input.Studivan and Voss_GOM_Structure
 input.txtStructure parameter
 fileStructure run parameters
 for use with Structure input file.Studivan and Voss_GOM_Structure
 parametersStructure output
 resultsArchive containing
 output files for Structure runs (contents of the "Results"
 directory created by Structure), for use with web-based Structure
 Harvester
 (http://taylor0.biology.ucla.edu/structureHarvester/).Studivan and Voss_GOM_Structure
 output.zipMigrate-n input file for
 BelizeMulti-locus genotypes
 for M. cavernosa from Belize, formatted for Migrate-n
 input.Studivan and Voss_GOM_Migrate
 input BLZMigrate-n input file for
 West Flower Garden BankMulti-locus genotypes
 for M. cavernosa from West Flower Garden Bank, formatted for Migrate-n
 input.Studivan and Voss_GOM_Migrate
 input WFGBMigrate-n input file for
 East Flower Garden BankMulti-locus genotypes
 for M. cavernosa from East Flower Garden Bank, formatted for Migrate-n
 input.Studivan and Voss_GOM_Migrate
 input EFGBMigrate-n input file for
 Pulley Ridge and Dry TortugasMulti-locus genotypes
 for M. cavernosa from Pulley Ridge and Dry Tortugas, formatted for
 Migrate-n input.Studivan and Voss_GOM_Migrate
 input PRG-DRTMigrate-n input file for
 Gulf of MexicoMulti-locus genotypes
 for M. cavernosa from the GOM, formatted for Migrate-n
 input.Studivan and Voss_GOM_Migrate
 input GOMMigrate-n Symm parameter
 fileParameter file for
 Migrate-n model Symm (symmetrical migration across all populations).
 Designed for use with Migrate-n-mpi on a high-performance computing
 cluster.Studivan and Voss_GOM_Migrate
 parameters SymmMigrate-n Up parameter
 fileParameter file for
 Migrate-n model Up (net mesophotic-to-shallow migration). Designed for use
 with Migrate-n-mpi on a high-performance computing
 cluster.Studivan and Voss_GOM_Migrate
 parameters UpMigrate-n Down parameter
 fileParameter file for
 Migrate-n model Down (net shallow-to-mesophotic migration). Designed for
 use with Migrate-n-mpi on a high-performance computing
 cluster.Studivan and Voss_GOM_Migrate
 parameters DownMigrate-n Pan parameter
 fileParameter file for
 Migrate-n model Panmixia (single population). Designed for use with
 Migrate-n-mpi on a high-performance computing cluster.Studivan and Voss_GOM_Migrate
 parameters Pan