Data from: Effects of brooding and broadcasting reproductive modes on the population genetic structure of two Antarctic gastropod molluscs

Life-history characteristics exert a profound influence upon the
population structure of many marine organisms. However, relatively few
genetic studies have compared direct with indirect-developing species in
the same ecosystem or geographic region, and none to our knowledge within
an Antarctic setting. To address this issue we have collected novel
Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) data from the
direct-developing top shell Margarella antarctica to form a comparison
with previously published data for the broadcast-spawning Antarctic limpet
Nacella concinna. We scored 270 loci in 240 M. antarctica individuals
sampled from five populations spanning the full length of the Antarctic
Peninsula. Profound differences were identified in the strength and
pattern of population structure between the two species, consistent with
gene flow being highly restricted in M. antarctica relative to N.
concinna.