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Limited hatchery introgression into wild brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) populations despite reoccurring stocking.

ABSTRACT: Due to increased anthropogenic pressures on many fish populations, supplementing wild populations with captive-raised individuals has become an increasingly common management practice. Stocking programs can be controversial due to uncertainty about the long-term fitness effects of genetic introgression on wild populations. In particular, introgression between hatchery and wild individuals can cause declines in wild population fitness, resiliency, and adaptive potential and contribute to local population extirpation. However, low survival and fitness of captive-raised individuals can minimize the long-term genetic consequences of stocking in wild populations, and to date the prevalence of introgression in actively stocked ecosystems has not been rigorously evaluated. We quantified the extent of introgression in 30 populations of wild brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in a Pennsylvania watershed and examined the correlation between introgression and 11 environmental covariates. Genetic assignment tests were used to determine the origin (wild vs. captive-raised) for 1,742 wild-caught and 300 hatchery brook trout. To avoid assignment biases, individuals were assigned to two simulated populations that represented the average allele frequencies in wild and hatchery groups. Fish with intermediate probabilities of wild ancestry were classified as introgressed, with threshold values determined through simulation. Even with reoccurring stocking at most sites, over 93% of wild-caught individuals probabilistically assigned to wild origin, and only 5.6% of wild-caught fish assigned to introgressed. Models examining environmental drivers of introgression explained <3% of the among-population variability, and all estimated effects were highly uncertain. This was not surprising given overall low introgression observed in this study. Our results suggest that introgression of hatchery-derived genotypes can occur at low rates, even in actively stocked ecosystems and across a range of habitats. However, a cautious approach to stocking may still be warranted, as the potential effects of stocking on wild population fitness and the mechanisms limiting introgression are not known.

SUBMITTER: White SL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6183464 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Limited hatchery introgression into wild brook trout (<i>Salvelinus fontinalis</i>) populations despite reoccurring stocking.

White Shannon L SL Miller William L WL Dowell Stephanie A SA Bartron Meredith L ML Wagner Tyler T

Evolutionary applications 20180614 9

Due to increased anthropogenic pressures on many fish populations, supplementing wild populations with captive-raised individuals has become an increasingly common management practice. Stocking programs can be controversial due to uncertainty about the long-term fitness effects of genetic introgression on wild populations. In particular, introgression between hatchery and wild individuals can cause declines in wild population fitness, resiliency, and adaptive potential and contribute to local po ...[more]

PMID: 30344628

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Project description:Many populations of freshwater fishes are threatened with losses, and increasingly, the release of hatchery individuals is one strategy being implemented to support wild populations. However, stocking of hatchery individuals may pose long-term threats to wild populations, particularly if genetic interactions occur between wild and hatchery individuals. One highly prized sport fish that has been heavily stocked throughout its range is the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). In Nova Scotia, Canada, hatchery brook trout have been stocked since the early 1900s, and despite continued stocking efforts, populations have suffered declines in recent decades. Before this study, the genetic structure of brook trout populations in the province was unknown; however, given the potential negative consequences associated with hatchery stocking, it is possible that hatchery programs have adversely affected the genetic integrity of wild populations. To assess the influence of hatchery supplementation on wild populations, we genotyped wild brook trout from 12 river systems and hatchery brook trout from two major hatcheries using 100 microsatellite loci. Genetic analyses of wild trout revealed extensive population genetic structure among and within river systems and significant isolation-by-distance. Hatchery stocks were genetically distinct from wild populations, and most populations showed limited to no evidence of hatchery introgression (<5% hatchery ancestry). Only a single location had a substantial number of hatchery-derived trout and was located in the only river where a local strain is used for supplementation. The amount of hatchery stocking within a watershed did not influence the level of hatchery introgression. Neutral genetic structure of wild populations was influenced by geography with some influence of climate and stocking indices. Overall, our study suggests that long-term stocking has not significantly affected the genetic integrity of wild trout populations, highlighting the variable outcomes of stocking and the need to evaluate the consequences on a case-by-case basis.

Dataset Information

Limited hatchery introgression into wild brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) populations despite reoccurring stocking.

Publications

Limited hatchery introgression into wild brook trout (<i>Salvelinus fontinalis</i>) populations despite reoccurring stocking.

Similar Datasets

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