User:Carr856/Landscape genetics sub-disciplines section

Seascape Genetics
Seascape genetics is a sub discipline of landscape genomics that scientists started to use in 2006. The emergence of this field proceeded landscape genetics, advances in genetic laboratory technology, and higher resolution marine environmental data. Like landscape genetics, seascape genetics is a multidisciplinary field. Areas of expertise used in sea scape genetics includes oceanography, ecology, and population genetics. Seascapes differ from landscapes due to differential connectivity in the aquatic environment. Currents allow for increased connectivity in some locations and restrict connectivity elsewhere. Many organisms that live in the ocean rely on currents to move their gametes and larvae which is called dispersal. Variable dispersal availability leads to subpopulations that have different structure; therefore, subpopulations are exposed to distinct selective pressures, experience separate rates of drift and have unique genetic diversity.

Seascape genomics is a tool that utilizes genetic markers in tandem with current patterns to better understand dispersal. Another key difference when studying marine systems is that many animals have extremely large population sizes. Substantial population sizes in the marine setting allows for greater adaptive potential with larger effective population size, meaning the portion of the population that is reproducing and passing along genes increases. A large population will have greater influence from selection than drift, thus marine organisms are more likely to have greater levels of local adaptation. In seascape analyses, genetic data allows for greater species understanding and tracking when the full life history is unknown or unable to be studied with ecology. Population genetics incorporates many theories and techniques, all of which need to be taken into consideration for seascape and landscape analyses. There are several ways to collect genetic information. Popular methods in seascape genetics have been single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), mitochondrial DNA, random amplified polymorphic DNAs, microsatellites, allozymes, and full genomes. Collecting and processing sufficient samples has been a time-consuming process in the past. Next generation sequencing has helped to expand the field of landscape genomics because it allows for rapid sequencing of extremely large genomes.

Seascape genomics can be applied marine life with varying life histories to answer various questions about genetic influences on population dynamics. Analyzes on sessile organisms, animals such as clams that stay in the same place their whole life, can easily be analyzed to better understand environmental evolutionary pressures. One example, Salmoni et at used environmental data and genetic analysis to identify a heat tolerant gene in corals. Many other studies have been done on organisms such as oysters, seagrass , and muscles. Motile animals, animals that can move around, have also been studies through seascape genomics. DiBattista and his team studied how hydrodynamics influences snapper larval disbursement and were able to characterize connectivity between populations. Studies that utilize seascape genomics can be used in conservation and restoration efforts. This type of studies can help to define resilient individuals or classify areas that would be best for marine protected area due to their ecological purpose.

Landscape Genomics
Landscape genomics also correlates genetic data with landscape data, but the genetic data comes from multiple loci (locations on a chromosome) across the genome of the organism, as in population genomics. Landscape genetics typically measures less than a dozen different microsatellites in an organism, while landscape genomics often measures single nucleotide polymorphisms at thousands of loci. This allows for the identification of outlier loci that may be under selection. Correlation to landscape data allows for identification of landscape factors contributing to genetic adaptation. This field is growing due to advances in next-generation sequencing techniques.