Sibling species or poecilogony in the polychaete Scoloplos armiger?
Kruse, I.; Reusch, Th.B.H.; Schneider, M.V. (2003). Sibling species or poecilogony in the polychaete Scoloplos armiger?, in: Kruse, I. Populationsökologie und -genetik des Polychaeten Scoloplos armiger (Orbiniidae) = Population ecology and genetics of the polychaete Scoloplos armiger (Orbiniidae). Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung = Reports on Polar and Marine Research, 438: pp. 17-43 In: Kruse, I. (2003). Populationsökologie und -genetik des Polychaeten Scoloplos armiger (Orbiniidae) = Population ecology and genetics of the polychaete Scoloplos armiger (Orbiniidae). Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung = Reports on Polar and Marine Research, 438. Alfred-Wegener-Instituut: Bremerhaven. 95 pp., more In: Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung = Reports on Polar and Marine Research. Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung: Bremerhaven. ISSN 1618-3193; e-ISSN 1866-3192, more |  |
| Keywords | Aquatic organisms > Marine organisms > Aquatic animals > Marine invertebrates
Cells > Sexual cells > Eggs
Developmental stages > Larvae
Genetic diversity
Sediments
Taxa > Species > Sibling species
Topographic features > Landforms > Coastal landforms > Tidal flats
Polychaeta [WoRMS]; Scoloplos armiger (Müller, 1776) [WoRMS]
ANE, Germany, Helgoland [Marine Regions]; ANE, North Sea [Marine Regions]
Marine/Coastal |
| Authors | | Top | - Kruse, I.
- Reusch, Th.B.H.
- Schneider, M.V.
| | |
| Abstract | In marine invertebrates multiple modes of development, or poecilogony, may occur in a single species. However, after close examination, many of such putative cases turned out to be sibling species. A case in point may be the cosmopolitan orbiniid polychaete Scoloplos armiger, which inhabits marine shallow sediments. In addition to the well-known direct, holobenthic development from egg cocoons, pelagic larvae have also been described. Our culture experiments revealed a spatially segregated source of the two developmental modes. All females of an intertidal population produced egg cocoons and no pelagic larvae. All but 2 out of 15 females of an adjacent subtidal population produced pelagic larvae and no egg cocoons. Based on these results we performed a molecular genetic analysis (RAPD-PCR) on three intertidal and four subtidal populations in the North Sea. Selected samples from all sites were analysed also by the AFLP method. We found significantly higher genetic diversity within subtidal than within intertidal populations. This is consistent with a wider dispersal by pelagic larvae and a smaller effective population size when development is holobenthic. Total genetic divergence is not related to distance but to the intertidal/subtidal division. We suggest that S. armiger actually represents two sibling species. |
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