Genetic structures across a biogeographical barrier reflect dispersal potential of four Southeast Asian mangrove plant species

Aim Biogeographic barriers restrict the movement of individuals, resulting in population divergence, genetic differentiation, endemism and speciation. Yet, some barriers demonstrate unequal effect across species depending on species dispersal, which manifests in varying genetic structure. We test the hypotheses that the genetic structure of four coastal mangrove species would reflect differences in dispersal potential across the Malay Peninsula, a major biogeographic barrier in the Indo-West Pacific region.
Location Twelve sites from the east and west coasts of the Malay Peninsula.
Taxon Mangrove trees Avicennia alba, Sonneratia alba, Bruguiera gymnorhiza, and Rhizhophora mucronata.
Methods For each species, we characterized genetic structure and gene flow using seven to 12 species-specific nuclear microsatellite markers. We tested for east-west genetic differentiation across the peninsula, a stepping-stone migration pattern, and assessed the proportion of recent dispersal and direction...