Dataset Information

Landslide-dammed paleolake perturbs marine sedimentation and drives genetic change in anadromous fish.

ABSTRACT: Large bedrock landslides have been shown to modulate rates and processes of river activity by forming dams, forcing upstream aggradation of water and sediment, and generating catastrophic outburst floods. Less apparent is the effect of large landslide dams on river ecosystems and marine sedimentation. Combining analyses of 1-m resolution topographic data (acquired via airborne laser mapping) and field investigation, we present evidence for a large, landslide-dammed paleolake along the Eel River, CA. The landslide mass initiated from a high-relief, resistant outcrop which failed catastrophically, blocking the Eel River with an approximately 130-m-tall dam. Support for the resulting 55-km-long, 1.3-km(3) lake includes subtle shorelines cut into bounding terrain, deltas, and lacustrine sediments radiocarbon dated to 22.5 ka. The landslide provides an explanation for the recent genetic divergence of local anadromous (ocean-run) steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) by blocking their migration route and causing gene flow between summer run and winter run reproductive ecotypes. Further, the dam arrested the prodigious flux of sediment down the Eel River; this cessation is recorded in marine sedimentary deposits as a 10-fold reduction in deposition rates of Eel-derived sediment and constitutes a rare example of a terrestrial event transmitted through the dispersal system and recorded offshore.

SUBMITTER: Mackey BH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3223463 | biostudies-other | 2011 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Landslide-dammed paleolake perturbs marine sedimentation and drives genetic change in anadromous fish.

Mackey Benjamin H BH Roering Joshua J JJ Lamb Michael P MP

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20111114 47

Large bedrock landslides have been shown to modulate rates and processes of river activity by forming dams, forcing upstream aggradation of water and sediment, and generating catastrophic outburst floods. Less apparent is the effect of large landslide dams on river ecosystems and marine sedimentation. Combining analyses of 1-m resolution topographic data (acquired via airborne laser mapping) and field investigation, we present evidence for a large, landslide-dammed paleolake along the Eel River, ...[more]

PMID: 22084068

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Project description:Genetic data have great potential for improving fisheries management by identifying the fundamental management units-that is, the biological populations-and their mixing. However, so far, the number of practical cases of marine fisheries management using genetics has been limited. Here, we used Atlantic cod in the Baltic Sea to demonstrate the applicability of genetics to a complex management scenario involving mixing of two genetically divergent populations. Specifically, we addressed several assumptions used in the current assessment of the two populations. Through analysis of 483 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) distributed across the Atlantic cod genome, we confirmed that a model of mechanical mixing, rather than hybridization and introgression, best explained the pattern of genetic differentiation. Thus, the fishery is best monitored as a mixed-stock fishery. Next, we developed a targeted panel of 39 SNPs with high statistical power for identifying population of origin and analyzed more than 2,000 tissue samples collected between 2011 and 2015 as well as 260 otoliths collected in 2003/2004. These data provided high spatial resolution and allowed us to investigate geographical trends in mixing, to compare patterns for different life stages and to investigate temporal trends in mixing. We found similar geographical trends for the two time points represented by tissue and otolith samples and that a recently implemented geographical management separation of the two populations provided a relatively close match to their distributions. In contrast to the current assumption, we found that patterns of mixing differed between juveniles and adults, a signal likely linked to the different reproductive dynamics of the two populations. Collectively, our data confirm that genetics is an operational tool for complex fisheries management applications. We recommend focussing on developing population assessment models and fisheries management frameworks to capitalize fully on the additional information offered by genetically assisted fisheries monitoring.

Dataset Information

Landslide-dammed paleolake perturbs marine sedimentation and drives genetic change in anadromous fish.

Publications

Landslide-dammed paleolake perturbs marine sedimentation and drives genetic change in anadromous fish.

Similar Datasets

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