GENETIC VARIATION IN THE MARINE ECTOPROCT SCHIZOPORELLA ERRATA

¹ Department of Biology, Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania 16652
² Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637

Schizoporella errata is sessile and has larvae that live only hours. On a purely local scale, the spatial distribution of gene frequencies and genotypes appears random in most comparisons. In addition, genotypes and gene frequencies remained relatively stable after the passage of a year. Over a distance of 1000 km from the southern edge of the Acadian Faunal Province through the Virginian Faunal Province and into the Carolinian Faunal Province, from 80 to 89 per cent of the sampled genome is identical. That is, genetic polymorphism stands at 1 of the 9 well-established loci (11 per cent) and an estimated 2 of 10 total loci in pooled material from 9 localities. The proportion of alleles at the single, clearly polymorphic locus (Lap-3) varies directly as a function of environmental temperature measured at the warmest time of the year.