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Abstract We here analysed the populations’ genetic structure of Coscinasterias tenuispina, an Atlantic-Mediterranean fissiparous starfish, focusing on the western Mediterranean, to investigate: the distribution and prevalence of genetic variants, the relative importance of asexual reproduction, connectivity across the Atlantic-Mediterranean transition, and the potential recent colonisation of the Mediterranean Sea. Individuals from 11 Atlantic-Mediterranean populations of a previous study added to 172 new samples from five new W Mediterranean sites. Individuals were genotyped at 12 microsatellite loci and their gonads histologically analysed for sex determination. Additionally, four populations were genotyped at two-time points. Results demonstrated genetic homogeneity and low clonal richness within the W Mediterranean, due to the dominance of a superclone, but large genetic divergence with adjacent areas. The lack of new genotypes recruitment over time, and the absence of females, confirmed that W Mediterranean populations were exclusively maintained by fission and reinforced the idea of its recent colonization. The existence of different environmental conditions among basins and/or density-depend processes could explain this lack of recruitment from distant areas. The positive correlation between clonal richness and heterozygote excess suggests that most genetic diversity is retained within individuals in the form of heterozygosity in clonal populations, which might increase their resilience.

Global environmental changes may have a profound impact on ecosystems. In this context, it is crucial to gather biological and ecological information of the main species in marine communities to predict and mitigate potential effects of shifts in their distribution, abundance, and interactions. Using genotyping by sequencing (GBS), we assessed the genetic structure of a keystone species in the Mediterranean shallow littoral ecosystems, the black sea urchin Arbacia lixula. This bioengineer species can shape their communities due to its grazing activity and it is experiencing an ongoing expansion with increasing temperatures. The population genomic analyses on 5,241 loci sequenced in 240 individuals from 11 Mediterranean sampled populations revealed that all populations were diverse and showed significant departure from equilibrium. Albeit genetic differentiation was in general shallow, a significant break separated the western and eastern Mediterranean populations, a break not detected in previous studies with less resolutive markers. Notably, no clear effect of the Almería-Oran front, an important break in the Atlanto-Mediterranean transition, could be detected among the western basin populations, where only a slight differentiation of the two northernmost populations was found. Despite the generally low levels of genetic differentiation found, we identified candidate regions for local adaptation by combining different genomic analysis with environmental data. Salinity, rather than temperature, seemed to be an important driver of genetic structure in A. lixula. Overall, from a population genomics standpoint, there is ample scope for A. lixula to continue thriving and adapting in the warming Mediterranean.