Pollution forms an invisible barrier for marine life
Thursday, March 10, 2011 - 15:30
in Biology & Nature
Researchers in Hawaii have examined the genetic structure of a common, non-harvested sea star using a spatially explicit model to test whether the largest sewage discharge and urban runoff sources were affecting the genetic structure of this species. They found that these large pollution sources are not only increasing genetic differentiation between populations (presumably by limiting the dispersal of larvae between them) but also decreasing the genetic diversity of populations closest to them.