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Hurricane impact on the adaptive shaping of
life history characteristics in the Atlantic Pearl Oyster.
Over the past six years we have monitored oyster populations in
two ponds on San Salvador Island through two severe hurricanes.
One pond shelters its population from hurricanes by virtue of
a dense mangrove habitat and small size (low wave propagation).
The other pond lost over 99.9% of its adult oyster population
during each hurricane event. These population decimations were
followed by mass spawning of the few remaining individuals. The
difference in hurricane impact on these two populations provides
a unique opportunity to explore how natural selection may be shaping
reproductive strategies in concert with the unique physical characteristics
of these anchialine ponds. We predict that in the hurricane-decimated
pond, life history characteristics will have shifted, favoring
early sexual maturity and gender switching in these protandrous
hermaphrodites. Histology allows us to correlate reproductive
status with age, while mitochondrial DNA analysis helps determine
genetic diversity and divergence of these spatially isolated populations
from each other and from coastal relatives.
Population Demographics
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