Studies investigating gene flow in sessile or sedentary marine species typically draw conclusions about larval dispersal by investigating genetic structure of adults. Here, we generated microsatellite data from adults, recruits, settlers and planktonic larvae of the brown mussel, Perna perna, from the southeast coast of South Africa, and identified a consistent mismatch in genetic structure between the adults and all earlier life stages. While adults could be assigned to two major geographical groups (western and eastern), most of the early‐stage mussels were strongly affiliated with the eastern group. This suggests that few of the early‐stage individuals present in the western portion of the sampling range will eventually establish themselves in the adult population, highlighting the importance of post‐recruitment processes as drivers of population structure. Our findings caution against the exclusive use of genetic data generated from adults to assess population connectivity facilitated by the dispersal of planktonic propagules.

中文翻译：

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海洋贻贝生活史阶段种群结构的意外不匹配揭示了浮游幼虫扩散的真实规模


研究固着或静止海洋物种的基因流通常通过研究成虫的遗传结构来得出有关幼虫扩散的结论。在这里，我们生成了来自南非东南海岸的褐贻贝（Perna perna）的成虫、新成员、定居者和浮游幼虫的微卫星数据，并确定了成虫和所有早期生命阶段之间遗传结构的一致不匹配。虽然成年贻贝可以分为两个主要地理群体（西部和东部），但大多数早期阶段的贻贝都与东部群体密切相关。这表明，抽样范围西部地区的早期个体很少会最终在成年人口中立足，这凸显了招募后过程作为人口结构驱动因素的重要性。我们的研究结果警告不要专门使用成年人产生的遗传数据来评估浮游繁殖体扩散促进的种群连通性。