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Summary: ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Genetic diversity and connectivity remain high in Holothuria polii
(Delle Chiaje 1823) across a coastal lagoon-open sea
environmental gradient
Carlos Vergara-Chen ·
Mercedes GonzaŽlez-Wangušemert ·
ConcepcioŽn Marcos · AŽ ngel PeŽrez-Ruzafa
Received: 2 July 2009 / Accepted: 29 June 2010
Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
Abstract Coastal lagoons represent habitats with widely
heterogeneous environmental conditions, particularly as
regards salinity and temperature, which fluctuate in both space
and time. These characteristics suggest that physical and
ecological factors could contribute to the genetic divergence
among populations occurring in coastal lagoon and open-
coast environments. This study investigates the genetic
structure of Holothuria polii at a micro-geographic scale
across the Mar Menor coastal lagoon and nearby marine areas,
estimating the mitochondrial DNA variation in two gene
fragments, cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and 16S rRNA (16S).
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