Successful validation of a larval dispersal model using genetic parentage data.
Larval dispersal is a critically important yet enigmatic process in marine ecology, evolution, and conservation. Determining the distance and direction that tiny larvae travel in the open ocean continues to be a challenge. Our current understanding of larval dispersal patterns at management-relevant...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2019-07-01
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| Series: | PLoS Biology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000380 |
| _version_ | 1819033404258123776 |
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| author | Michael Bode Jeffrey M Leis Luciano B Mason David H Williamson Hugo B Harrison Severine Choukroun Geoffrey P Jones |
| author_facet | Michael Bode Jeffrey M Leis Luciano B Mason David H Williamson Hugo B Harrison Severine Choukroun Geoffrey P Jones |
| author_sort | Michael Bode |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Larval dispersal is a critically important yet enigmatic process in marine ecology, evolution, and conservation. Determining the distance and direction that tiny larvae travel in the open ocean continues to be a challenge. Our current understanding of larval dispersal patterns at management-relevant scales is principally and separately informed by genetic parentage data and biological-oceanographic (biophysical) models. Parentage datasets provide clear evidence of individual larval dispersal events, but their findings are spatially and temporally limited. Biophysical models offer a more complete picture of dispersal patterns at regional scales but are of uncertain accuracy. Here, we develop statistical techniques that integrate these two important sources of information on larval dispersal. We then apply these methods to an extensive genetic parentage dataset to successfully validate a high-resolution biophysical model for the economically important reef fish species Plectropomus maculatus in the southern Great Barrier Reef. Our results demonstrate that biophysical models can provide accurate descriptions of larval dispersal at spatial and temporal scales that are relevant to management. They also show that genetic parentage datasets provide enough statistical power to exclude poor biophysical models. Biophysical models that included species-specific larval behaviour provided markedly better fits to the parentage data than assuming passive behaviour, but incorrect behavioural assumptions led to worse predictions than ignoring behaviour altogether. Our approach capitalises on the complementary strengths of genetic parentage datasets and high-resolution biophysical models to produce an accurate picture of larval dispersal patterns at regional scales. The results provide essential empirical support for the use of accurately parameterised biophysical larval dispersal models in marine spatial planning and management. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T07:17:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-00dd81e777534bd892be7ffe6dc8121f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1544-9173 1545-7885 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T07:17:18Z |
| publishDate | 2019-07-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS Biology |
| spelling | doaj.art-00dd81e777534bd892be7ffe6dc8121f2022-12-21T19:11:51ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Biology1544-91731545-78852019-07-01177e300038010.1371/journal.pbio.3000380Successful validation of a larval dispersal model using genetic parentage data.Michael BodeJeffrey M LeisLuciano B MasonDavid H WilliamsonHugo B HarrisonSeverine ChoukrounGeoffrey P JonesLarval dispersal is a critically important yet enigmatic process in marine ecology, evolution, and conservation. Determining the distance and direction that tiny larvae travel in the open ocean continues to be a challenge. Our current understanding of larval dispersal patterns at management-relevant scales is principally and separately informed by genetic parentage data and biological-oceanographic (biophysical) models. Parentage datasets provide clear evidence of individual larval dispersal events, but their findings are spatially and temporally limited. Biophysical models offer a more complete picture of dispersal patterns at regional scales but are of uncertain accuracy. Here, we develop statistical techniques that integrate these two important sources of information on larval dispersal. We then apply these methods to an extensive genetic parentage dataset to successfully validate a high-resolution biophysical model for the economically important reef fish species Plectropomus maculatus in the southern Great Barrier Reef. Our results demonstrate that biophysical models can provide accurate descriptions of larval dispersal at spatial and temporal scales that are relevant to management. They also show that genetic parentage datasets provide enough statistical power to exclude poor biophysical models. Biophysical models that included species-specific larval behaviour provided markedly better fits to the parentage data than assuming passive behaviour, but incorrect behavioural assumptions led to worse predictions than ignoring behaviour altogether. Our approach capitalises on the complementary strengths of genetic parentage datasets and high-resolution biophysical models to produce an accurate picture of larval dispersal patterns at regional scales. The results provide essential empirical support for the use of accurately parameterised biophysical larval dispersal models in marine spatial planning and management.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000380 |
| spellingShingle | Michael Bode Jeffrey M Leis Luciano B Mason David H Williamson Hugo B Harrison Severine Choukroun Geoffrey P Jones Successful validation of a larval dispersal model using genetic parentage data. PLoS Biology |
| title | Successful validation of a larval dispersal model using genetic parentage data. |
| title_full | Successful validation of a larval dispersal model using genetic parentage data. |
| title_fullStr | Successful validation of a larval dispersal model using genetic parentage data. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Successful validation of a larval dispersal model using genetic parentage data. |
| title_short | Successful validation of a larval dispersal model using genetic parentage data. |
| title_sort | successful validation of a larval dispersal model using genetic parentage data |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000380 |
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