Single Nucleotide Polymorph and location metadata for Turbo militaris from Eastern Australia

Studies of population genomics have been increasingly used to identify
climate change vulnerability and explore the potential resilience of
harvested marine species. The turban snail, Turbo
militaris is a commercially and culturally harvested marine
gastropod snail from eastern Australia. The species has exhibited a
climate-driven poleward range shift over the last two decades and
continued climate change presents an ongoing challenge for sustainable
fisheries management. This study investigates the likely resilience
of Turbo militaris to future climate change effects using
genotype-by-sequencing to explore patterns of gene flow and local
adaptation across the entire species distribution. We provide evidence of
a single admixed, and potentially panmictic, demographic unit with no
evidence of genetic subdivision across the species range. Furthermore,
significant genotype associations with heterogeneous habitat features were
observed, including associations with sea surface temperature, ocean
currents, and nutrients, indicating possible adaptive genetic
differentiation among sample locations. These findings suggest that
standing genetic variation may be available for selection to counter
future environmental change, assisted by widespread gene flow, high
fecundity and short generation time in this species. We discuss the
findings of this study in the content of future fisheries management and
conservation.