Investigation of mechanisms underlying chaotic genetic patchiness in the intertidal marbled crab Pachygrapsus marmoratus (Brachyura: Grapsidae) across the Ligurian Sea.

Overall, our results suggest that the chaotic genetic patchiness we found in P. marmoratus Ligurian Sea populations is the result of a combination of differences in reproductive success, en masse larval dispersion and local larval retention. This study defines P. marmoratus as an example of marine spawner whose genetic pool is not homogenous at population level, but rather split in a chaotic mosaic of slightly differentiated genetic patches derived from complex and dynamic ecological processes.