Genetic Analysis and Population Structure of Spiny Lobsters in the Caribbean

该奖项将支持教授罗穆亚尔德N。作者声明：Brian W. 米汉，弗吉尼亚海洋科学学院 威廉玛丽，在研究合作与教授& 西印度群岛大学的卡尔·艾肯和米尔顿 豪顿牙买加渔业，都在牙买加。 调查人员 打算使用最近技术（线粒体DNA限制 片段分析），以评估遗传和群体异质性 在统计上健全的样本从选定的人口， 牙买加、墨西哥、巴哈马群岛和百慕大群岛的刺龙虾 黑穗鱼 关于生态和渔业的关键未决问题 多刺龙虾和其他广泛分布的海洋生物学 在加勒比海的物种涉及的规模和程度 人口的地理分化。 解决这一 这些问题可能会导致我们对 生态关系（例如，征聘动态）和管理 以及其他重要的加勒比海洋渔业。 多刺龙虾栖息在从百慕大到巴西的沿海沃茨， 它们的补充受到主要洋流系统的影响。 的 整个海洋中存在着幼虫浮游迁移的可能性。 加勒比海盆，从而产生泛加勒比同质性， 人口结构 或者，可以保留幼虫 在当地环流中，从而产生地理差异。 为了评估地理差异的程度和规模， 因此，描述群体异质性是至关重要的 在地理区域内和地理区域内。 科学在发展 国家计划奖将提供必要的信息， (1)进一步研究地理分化， （2）调查龙虾的招募过程， 广泛分布的加勒比物种，（3）帮助支持 发展有效的泛加勒比渔业管理。

This award will support Professors Romuald N. Lipcius and Brian W. Meehan of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science of the College of William & Mary, in a research collaboration with Professors Karl Aiken of the University of the West Indies and Milton Haughton of Jamaica Fisheries, both in Jamaica. The investigators intend to use a recent technique (mitochondrial DNA restriction fragment analysis) to assess genetic and population hetero-geneity in statistically sound samples from selected populations in Jamaica, Mexico, the Bahamas, and Bermuda of the spiny lobster Panilirus argus. The key unresolved issue concerning the ecology and fishery biology of the spiny lobster and other widely dispersed marine species in the Caribbean pertains to the scales and degree of geographic differentiation of populations. Resolution of this issue could lead to major advances in our understanding of ecological relationships (e.g., recruitment dynamics) and management of this and other important Caribbean marine fisheries. Spiny lobsters inhabit coastal waters from Bermuda to Brazil, and their recruitment is affected by major oceanic current systems. The potential exists for pelagic transport of larvae throughout the Caribbean basin, thereby producing pan-Caribbean homogeneity in population structure. Alternatively, larvae could be retained within local gyres, thereby producing geographic differentiation. In order to assess the degree and scales of geographic differenti- ation, it is critical to characterize population heterogeneity across and within geographic areas. This Science in Developing Countries Program award will provide the requisite information for (1) further investigations of geographic differentiation in the spiny lobster, (2) investigations of recruitment processes in widely dispersed Caribbean species, and (3) help to support the development of effective pan-Caribbean fisheries management.