Connectivity of Coral Populations Between Two Biodiveristy Hotspots: Indonesia and the Philippines

Abstract

The Coral Triangle in Southeast Asia is the global center of marine biodiversity. There are more species of marine life found here than anywhere else on Earth. One of the greatest mysteries in marine science is how this biodiversity originated. In 2002, two biodiversity hotspots for marine conservation were identified in the Coral Triangle region, one in Indonesia and one in the Philippines. In order to gain a better understanding of the relationship between these two regions, we have estimated genetic connectivity of two reef building corals between Indonesia and the Philippines. Our results indicate that corals collected in Indonesia were most likely born in the Philippines. Conversely, some individuals collected in the Philippines were most likely born in Indonesia. For S. hystrix, pairwise Fst = 0.13194 and pairwise Rst = 0.14715. 5 corals collected in Indonesia were most likely born in the Philippines. Conversely 20 individuals collected in the Philippines were most likely born in Indonesia, indicating greater dispersal from Indonesia to the Philippines than vice versa.