DOI: 10.5061/dryad.90835
title: Data from: Exploring the role of Micronesian islands in the maintenance of coral genetic diversity in the Pacific Ocean

description: Understanding how genetic diversity is maintained across patchy marine
 environments remains a fundamental problem in marine biology. The Coral
 Triangle, located in the Indo-West Pacific, is the center of marine
 biodiversity and has been proposed as an important source of genetic
 diversity for remote Pacific reefs. Several studies highlight Micronesia,
 a scattering of hundreds of small islands situated within the North
 Equatorial Counter Current, as a potentially important migration corridor.
 To test this hypothesis, we characterized the population genetic structure
 of two ecologically important congeneric species of reef-building corals
 across greater Micronesia, from Palau to the Marshall Islands. Genetic
 divergences between islands followed an isolation-by-distance pattern,
 with Acropora hyacinthus exhibiting greater genetic divergences than A.
 digitifera, suggesting different migration capabilities or different
 effective population sizes for these closely related species. We inferred
 dispersal distance using a biophysical larval transport model, which
 helped explain an additional 15-21% of genetic variation compared to
 between-island geographic distance alone. For both species, genetic
 divergence accumulates and genetic diversity diminishes with distance from
 the Coral Triangle, supporting the hypothesis that Micronesian islands act
 as important stepping-stones connecting the central Pacific with the
 species rich Coral Triangle. However, for A. hyacinthus, the species with
 lower genetic connectivity, immigration from the sub-equatorial Pacific
 begins to play a larger role in shaping diversity than input from the
 Coral Triangle. This work highlights the enormous dispersal potential of
 broadcast-spawning corals and identifies the biological and physical
 drivers that influence coral genetic diversity on a regional scale.
description: All Structure
 DataThis is a structure
 input file containing allelic information for all individuals genotyped in
 this project including collections for Acropora digitifera and A.
 hyacinthus. These were the data used to determine which individuals to
 include within each species downstream using a K=3.1.Spp_Test_StructureAcropora digitifera structureThis file contains all data for 11 loci for individuals assigning to Acropora digitifera after initial clustering step.2.A.digi_StructureAcropora hyacinthus structureThis file contains all data for 12 loci for individuals assigned to Acropora hyacinthus after initial clustering step. Data are formatted as structure input files.3.A.hya_StructureAcropora digitifera FstThis is a csv file is a matrix with all pairwise Fst comparisons for Acropora digitifera and all pairwise distances between islands.5.Dig_Island_Fst_BelowDiag_2014.csvAcropora hyacinthus FstThis is a csv file is a matrix with all pairwise Fst comparisons for Acropora hyacinthus and all pairwise distances between islands.6.Hya_Island_Fst_BelowDiag_2014.csvIsland LabelsThis is a matrix of all pairwise island labels.7.Island_Labels2014.csvAcropora digitifera shannonThis file is a matrix with all pairwise shannon diversities values for Acropora digitifera.8.Dig_Island_Shannon.csvAcropora hyacinthus shannonThis file is a matrix with all pairwise shannon diversities values for Acropora hyacinthus.9.Hya_Island_Shannon.csvMicronesia_R-Script_DaviesThis is the R-script used for all statistics and graphics for the manuscript.Davies_RScript.RPLD45_M_DispersalDistanceThis is an R data file with the migration dispersal distances between each pair of islands modeled for a pelagic larval duration of 45 days. These data can be used as input for the supplied R-script.PLD65_M_DispersalDistanceThis is an R data file with the migration dispersal distances between each pair of islands modeled for a pelagic larval duration of 65 days. These data can be used as input for the supplied R-script.PLD90_M_DispersalDistanceThis is an R data file with the migration dispersal distances between each pair of islands modeled for a pelagic larval duration of 90 days. These data can be used as input for the supplied R-script.