Development of microsatellites for the bay scallop, Argopecten irradians (Lamarck), with application to evaluating restoration
- UNCW Author/Contributor (non-UNCW co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Elizabeth M. Hemond (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW )
- Web Site: http://library.uncw.edu/
- Advisor
- Ami Wilbur
Abstract: Due to the threats of pollution, overfishing, and harmful algal blooms, populations of the
bay scallop have become jeopardized throughout this species range. Proactive restoration efforts
have been undertaken in Florida, North Carolina and New York with varying degrees of success.
However, the interpretation of the impacts of restoration activities are complicated by a lack of
direct assessments. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of microsatellite
markers and multi-locus assignments in genetic assessment of bay scallop restoration.
Five-hundred and thirteen clones from a genomic library were sequenced and yielded 93
loci, of which five were developed for use in this project. These five loci exhibited relatively
high variation (8-25 alleles/locus) and adhered to expectations of Mendelian inheritance and
Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The parents and offspring of a hatchery spawn were genotyped
with the microsatellites and revealed a loss of allelic diversity in the F1 generation. Parentage
analysis indicated highly biased contribution with over 87% of the offspring whose parentage
was identified being attributable to a single pair of scallops.
Samples of three regional populations of scallops (Florida, North Carolina and New
York) were genotyped using nine loci and exhibited significant genic differentiation. The
highest level of differentiation was found to occur between Florida and the Atlantic samples
(FST=0.1137). Assignment of scallops to regions indicated high power of assignment between
Florida and Atlantic populations, but low power between New York and North Carolina
populations. In addition, Bayesian clustering indicated population structure between Florida and
the Atlantic samples, but none between New York and North Carolina.
Microsatellite analysis and assignment tests were applied to an assessment of restoration
in Pine Island Sound following a 2003 release of 1.5 million larvae from a hatchery spawning of twelve scallops from Anclote Estuary. Scallops sampled from the wild populations in Pine
Island Sound, Anclote Estuary and Steinhatchee (a site north of Anclote Estuary) were used to
define potential source populations. Little to no differentiation between these populations was
observed, and assignment analyses correctly identified the origin of these scallops less than 50%
of the time. Assignment of a sample of post-restoration scallops from Pine Island Sound was
inconclusive as the assignment tests were unable to distinguish between potential source
populations. The utility of microsatellites and multilocus analysis in restoration depends on
moderate differentiation between the restoration stock and the wild population, as well as
appropriate genetic characterization of the restoration stock sample.
Development of microsatellites for the bay scallop, Argopecten irradians (Lamarck), with application to evaluating restoration
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- A Thesis Submitted to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters of Science
- Language: English
- Date: 2009
- Keywords
- Bay scallop, Bay scallop--Conservation, Bay scallop--Genetics, Microsatellites (Genetics), Scallop culture
- Subjects
- Bay scallop
- Scallop culture
- Microsatellites (Genetics)
- Bay scallop -- Conservation
- Bay scallop -- Genetics