Dataset Information

The effect of hatchery release strategy on marine migratory behaviour and apparent survival of Seymour River steelhead smolts (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

ABSTRACT: Early marine migratory behaviour and apparent survival of hatchery-reared Seymour River steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) smolts was examined over a four year period (2006-2009) to assess the impact of various management strategies on improving early marine survival. Acoustically tagged smolts were released to measure their survival using estuary and coastal marine receivers forming components of the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST) array. Early marine survival was statistically indistinguishable between releases of summer run and winter run steelhead races, night and day releases, and groups released 10 days apart. In 2009, the survival of summer run steelhead released into the river was again trialed against groups released directly into the ocean at a distance from the river mouth. Apparent survival was improved significantly for the ocean released groups. The health and physiological status of the various release groups were monitored in years 2007-2009, and results indicate that the fish were in good health, with no clinical signs of disease at the time of release. The possibility of a disease event contributing to early marine mortality was further examined in 2009 by vaccinating half of the released fish against common fish diseases (vibriosis, furunculosis). The results suggest that marine survival may be enhanced using this approach, although not to the extent observed when the smolts were transported away from the river mouth before release. In summary, direct experimental testing of different release strategies using the POST array to measure ocean survival accelerated the scientific process by allowing rapid collection of data which enabled the rejection of several existing theories and allowed tentative identification of several new alternative approaches that might improve early marine survival of Seymour River steelhead.

SUBMITTER: Balfry S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3066170 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The effect of hatchery release strategy on marine migratory behaviour and apparent survival of Seymour River steelhead smolts (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

Balfry Shannon S Welch David W DW Atkinson Jody J Lill Al A Vincent Stephen S

PloS one 20110329 3

Early marine migratory behaviour and apparent survival of hatchery-reared Seymour River steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) smolts was examined over a four year period (2006-2009) to assess the impact of various management strategies on improving early marine survival. Acoustically tagged smolts were released to measure their survival using estuary and coastal marine receivers forming components of the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST) array. Early marine survival was statistically indistinguishab ...[more]

PMID: 21468320

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Project description:While the goal of most conservation hatchery programs is to produce fish that are genetically and phenotypically indistinguishable from the wild stocks they aim to restore, there is considerable evidence that salmon and steelhead reared in hatcheries differ from wild fish in phenotypic traits related to fitness. Some evidence suggests that these phenotypic differences have a genetic basis (e.g., domestication selection) but another likely mechanism that remains largely unexplored is that differences between hatchery and wild populations arise as a result of environmentally-induced heritable epigenetic change. As a first step toward understanding the potential contribution of these two possible mechanisms, we describe genetic and epigenetic variation in hatchery and natural-origin adult steelhead, Oncorhynchus mykiss, from the Methow River, WA. Our main objectives were to determine if hatchery and natural-origin fish could be distinguished genetically and whether differences in epigenetic programming (DNA methylation) in somatic and germ cells could be detected between the two groups. Genetic analysis of 72 fish using 936 SNPs generated by Restriction Site Associated DNA Sequencing (RAD-Seq) did not reveal differentiation between hatchery and natural-origin fish at a population level. We performed Reduced Representation Bisulfite Sequencing (RRBS) on a subset of 10 hatchery and 10 natural-origin fish and report the first genome-wide characterization of somatic (red blood cells (RBCs)) and germ line (sperm) derived DNA methylomes in a salmonid, from which we identified considerable tissue-specific methylation. We identified 85 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in RBCs and 108 DMRs in sperm of steelhead reared for their first year in a hatchery environment compared to those reared in the wild. This work provides support that epigenetic mechanisms may serve as a link between hatchery rearing and adult phenotype in steelhead; furthermore, DMRs identified in germ cells (sperm) highlight the potential for these changes to be passed on to future generations.

Project description:Genetic selection is often implicated as the underlying cause of heritable phenotypic differences between hatchery and wild populations of steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) that also differ in lifetime fitness. Developmental plasticity, which can also affect fitness, may be mediated by epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation. Our previous study identified significant differences in DNA methylation between adult hatchery- and natural-origin steelhead from the same population that could not be distinguished by DNA sequence variation. In the current study, we tested whether hatchery-rearing conditions can influence patterns of DNA methylation in steelhead with known genetic backgrounds, and assessed the stability of these changes over time. Eyed-embryos from 22 families of Methow River steelhead were split across traditional hatchery tanks or a simulated stream-rearing environment for 8 months, followed by a second year in a common hatchery tank environment. Family assignments were made using a genetic parentage analysis to account for relatedness among individuals. DNA methylation patterns were examined in the liver, a relatively homogeneous organ that regulates metabolic processes and somatic growth, of juveniles at two time points: after eight months of rearing in either a tank or stream environment and after a subsequent year of rearing in a common tank environment. Further, we analyzed DNA methylation in the sperm of mature 2-year-old males from the earlier described treatments to assess the potential of environmentally-induced changes to be passed to offspring. Hepatic DNA methylation changes in response to hatchery versus stream-rearing in yearling fish were substantial, but few persisted after a second year in the tank environment. However, the early rearing environment appeared to affect how fish responded to developmental and environmental signals during the second year since novel DNA methylation differences were identified in the livers of hatchery versus stream-reared fish after a year of common tank rearing. Furthermore, we found profound differences in DNA methylation due to age, irrespective of rearing treatment. This could be due to smoltification associated changes in liver physiology after the second year of rearing. Although few rearing-treatment effects were observed in the sperm methylome, strong family effects were observed. These data suggest limited potential for intergenerational changes, but highlight the importance of understanding the effects of kinship among studied individuals in order to properly analyze and interpret DNA methylation data in natural populations. Our work is the first to study family effects and temporal dynamics of DNA methylation patterns in response to hatchery-rearing.

Dataset Information

The effect of hatchery release strategy on marine migratory behaviour and apparent survival of Seymour River steelhead smolts (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

Publications

The effect of hatchery release strategy on marine migratory behaviour and apparent survival of Seymour River steelhead smolts (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

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