Data from: Matching oceanography and genetics at the basin scale. Seascape connectivity of the Mediterranean shore crab in the Adriatic Sea

Investigating the interactions between the physical environment and early life history is crucial to understand the mechanisms that shape the genetic structure of marine populations. Here, we assessed the genetic differentiation in a species with larval dispersal, the Mediterranean shore crab (Carcinus aestuarii) in the Adriatic Sea (central Mediterranean), and we investigated the role of oceanic circulation in shaping population structure. To this end, we screened 11 polymorphic microsatellite loci from 431 individuals collected at eight different sites. We found a weak, yet significant, genetic structure into three major clusters: a northern Adriatic group, a central Adriatic group, and one group including samples from southern Adriatic and Ionian seas. Genetic analyses were compared, under a seascape genetics approach, with estimates of potential larval connectivity obtained with a coupled physical-biological model that integrates a water circulation model and a description of biological traits affecting dispersal. The cross-validation of the results of the two approaches supported the view that genetic differentiation reflects an oceanographic subdivision of the Adriatic Sea into three sub-basins, with circulation patterns allowing the exchange of larvae through permanent connections linking north Adriatic sites and ephemeral connections like those linking the central Adriatic with northern and southern locations.探究物理环境与早期生活史之间的相互作用，对于阐明塑造海洋种群遗传结构的内在机制至关重要。本研究以具有幼体扩散特性的地中海滨蟹（Carcinus aestuarii）为研究对象，在亚得里亚海（地中海中部海域）开展相关实验，评估其遗传分化水平，并探究海洋环流在种群结构形成过程中的作用。为此，我们对采自8个不同采样点的431个个体的11个多态性微卫星位点（microsatellite loci）进行了基因分型检测。研究结果显示，该物种存在微弱但显著的遗传结构，可划分为3个主要类群：亚得里亚海北部类群、亚得里亚海中部类群，以及涵盖亚得里亚海南部与爱奥尼亚海样本的类群。本研究采用海洋景观遗传学（seascape genetics）研究框架，将遗传分析结果与耦合物理-生物模型估算的潜在幼体连通性进行对比；该模型整合了水循环模型与影响扩散的生物性状描述。对两种研究方法的结果开展交叉验证后证实，遗传分化反映了亚得里亚海的海洋学分区格局：该海域被划分为3个次级海盆，环流模式使得幼体可通过亚得里亚海北部站点间的永久连通通道实现交换，而亚得里亚海中部与北部、南部站点间仅存在瞬时连通通道。