title: The role of marine reserves in the replenishment of a locally impacted population of anemonefish on the Great Barrier Reef.
abstract: The development of parentage analysis to track the dispersal of juvenile offspring has given us unprecedented insight into the population dynamics of coral reef fishes. These tools now have the potential to inform fisheries management and species conservation, particularly for small fragmented populations under threat from exploitation and disturbance. In this study, we resolve patterns of larval dispersal for a population of the anemonefish Amphiprion melanopus in the Keppel Islands (southern Great Barrier Reef). Habitat loss and fishing appear to have impacted this population and a network of no-take marine reserves currently protects 75% of the potential breeders. Using parentage analysis, we estimate that 21% of recruitment in the island group was generated locally and that breeding adults living in reserves were responsible for 79% (31 of 39) of these of locally produced juveniles. Overall, the network of reserves was fully connected via larval dispersal; however, one reserve was identified as a critical source of larvae for the island group. The population in the Keppel Islands also appears to be well-connected to other source populations at least 60 km away, given that 79% (145 of 184) of the juveniles sampled remained unassigned in the parentage analysis. We estimated the effective size of the A. melanopus metapopulation to be 745 (582-993 95% CI) and recommend continued monitoring of its genetic status. Maintaining connectivity with populations beyond the Keppel Islands and recovery of local recruitment habitat, potentially through active restoration of host anemone populations, will be important for its long-term persistence.
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia.|College of Marine & Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Mary C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Bonin
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Hugo B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Ashley J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Frisch
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile.|Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Saenz-Agudelo
authors.affiliation: Red Sea Research Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Berumen
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia.|College of Marine & Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia.
authors.forename: Geoffrey P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D057894:Coral Reefs; D005398:Fisheries; D005828:Genetics, Population; D060005:Genotyping Techniques; D007814:Larva; D010473:Perciformes / Q000235:genetics*; D011156:Population Density; D011157:Population Dynamics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
keywords: conservation genetics; effective population size; habitat loss; larval connectivity; marine reserves; parentage analysis