The emergent geography of biophysical dispersal barriers across the Indo-West Pacific

Aim: To discover and evaluate potential dispersal barriers across the Indo-West Pacific Ocean and to develop spatially explicit hypotheses regarding the location of barriers and their capacity to filter taxa. Additionally, to compare model predictions with previously described barriers and build a more thorough understanding of the region's biogeographic patterns. Location: The reefs of the Indo-West Pacific Ocean, from 100 to 170°E and from 30°N to 30°S. Methods: A biophysical larval dispersal model was used to quantify over 800,000 dispersal kernels by simulating 99 model taxa. Spatial analysis was used to map emergent patterns of potential multispecies population connectivity and predict geographic locations and strength of concordant dispersal barriers across the seascape. Results: Although individual taxa varied in their predicted fine-scale population connectivity, there was consistency in the location of dispersal barriers. Across all trait combinations, reproductive output (fecu...