Paradigm shifts in marine fisheries genetics: ugly hypotheses slain by beautiful facts

Abstract By providing new approaches to the investigation of demographic and evolutionary dynamics of wild populations, molecular genetics has led to fundamental changes in our understanding of marine ecology. In particular, genetic approaches have revolutionized our understanding in three areas: (i) most importantly, they have contributed to the discovery of extensive genetic population structure in many marine species, overturning the notion of large, essentially homogenous marine populations limiting local adaptation and speciation. (ii) Concomitant differences in ecologically important traits now indicate extensive adaptive differentiation and biocomplexity, potentially increasing the resilience to…