Increases in local and global stressors have led to major declines in coral populations throughout the western Atlantic. While abundances of other species have declined, however, the relative abundance of the mustard hill coral, Porites astreoides, has increased. Porites astreoides is relatively resilient to some stressors, and because of its mixed reproductive strategies, its populations often recover quickly following disturbances. The ability for P. astreoides to continue as a potential “winner” in western Atlantic reefs relies on maintaining sufficient genetic variation within populations to support acclimatization and adaptation to current and future environmental change. Without high genetic diversity and gene flow within the population, it would have limited capacity for adaptation and the species’ competitive advantages could be short-lived. In this study, we determined the genetic relatedness of 37 P. astreoides colonies at four shallow reefs along the offshore Florida Keys Reef Tract (FKRT), a region particularly hard-hit by recent disturbances. Using previously designed microsatellite markers, we determined the genetic diversity and connectivity of individuals among and between sites. Our results suggest that the FKRT likely contains a single, well-mixed genetic population of P. astreoides, with high levels of gene flow and evidence for larval migration throughout the region. This suggests that regional populations of P. astreoides likely have a higher chance of maintaining resilience than many other western Atlantic species as they face current and future disturbances.

当地和全球压力源的增加导致整个西大西洋珊瑚种群的大幅下降。然而，虽然其他物种的丰度有所下降，但芥菜山珊瑚Porites astreoides的相对丰度却有所增加。Porites astreoides对某些压力源的抵抗力相对较强，并且由于其混合繁殖策略，其种群通常会在受到干扰后迅速恢复。P. asreoides的能力继续作为西大西洋珊瑚礁的潜在“赢家”依赖于在种群内保持足够的遗传变异，以支持适应当前和未来环境变化的适应和适应。如果种群内没有高度的遗传多样性和基因流动，它的适应能力就会受到限制，物种的竞争优势可能是短暂的。在这项研究中，我们确定了 37 P. astreoides的遗传相关性佛罗里达群岛近海礁带 (FKRT) 沿岸的四个浅礁上的殖民地，该地区最近受到的干扰特别严重。使用先前设计的微卫星标记，我们确定了站点之间和站点之间个体的遗传多样性和连通性。我们的结果表明，FKRT 可能包含一个单一的、混合良好的P. astreoides遗传种群，具有高水平的基因流和整个地区幼虫迁移的证据。这表明，与许多其他西大西洋物种相比，P. astreoides 的区域种群在面临当前和未来的干扰时可能更有可能保持恢复力。