Mirams AGKTreml EAShields JLLiggins LRiginos C1/12/20111/12/2011CORAL REEFS, 2011, 30 (4), pp. 937 - 949 (13)0722-4028https://hdl.handle.net/10179/17389CAUL read and publish agreementBiogeographic barriers, some transitory in duration, are likely to have been important contributing factors to modern marine biodiversity in the Indo-Pacific region. One such barrier was the Torres Strait land bridge between continental Australia and New Guinea that persisted through much of the late Pleistocene and separated Indian and Pacific Ocean taxa. Here, we examine the patterns of mitochondrial DNA diversity for marine animals with present-day distributions spanning the Torres Strait. Specifically, we investigate whether there are concordant signatures across species, consistent with either vicariance or recent colonization from either ocean basin. We survey four species of reef fishes (Apogon doederleini, Pomacentrus coelestis, Dascyllus trimaculatus, and Acanthurus triostegus) for mtDNA cytochrome oxidase 1 and control region variation and contrast these results to previous mtDNA studies in diverse marine animals with similar distributions. We find substantial genetic partitioning (estimated from F-statistics and coalescent approaches) between Indian and Pacific Ocean populations for many species, consistent with regional persistence through the late Pleistocene in both ocean basins. The species-specific estimates of genetic divergence, however, vary greatly and for reef fishes we estimate substantially different divergence times among species. It is likely that Indian and Pacific Ocean populations have been isolated for multiple glacial cycles for some species, whereas for other species genetic connections have been more recent. Regional estimates of genetic diversity and directionality of gene flow also vary among species. Thus, there is no apparent consistency among historical patterns across the Torres Strait for these co-distributed marine animals. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.937 - 949 (13)Science & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineMarine & Freshwater BiologyMARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGYAustraliaCoalescenceCoral TriangleGene flowComparative phylogeographyPlanktonic larval dispersalINDO-WEST PACIFICCORAL-REEF FISHMITOCHONDRIAL-DNA ANALYSISSEA-LEVELDASCYLLUS-TRIMACULATUSGLOBAL PHYLOGEOGRAPHYSPECIES BOUNDARIESAUSTRALIAN WATERSSCYLLA-SERRATADIVERGENCEJournal article10.1007/s00338-011-0767-x235625Massey_Dark04 Earth Sciences05 Environmental Sciences06 Biological Sciences