Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)


Print Feedback Export to File
8020424 
Journal Article 
Geographic influences on fine-scale, hierarchical population structure in northern Canadian populations of anadromous Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) 
Harris, CN; Moore, JS; Galpern, P; Tallman, RF; Taylor, EB 
2014 
Yes 
Environmental Biology of Fishes
ISSN: 0378-1909
EISSN: 1573-5133 
97 
11 
1233-1252 
WOS:000342424600004 
Assessments of fine-scale population structure in natural populations are important for understanding aspects of ecology, life history variation and evolutionary history and can provide novel insights into resource management. Although Arctic char, Salvelinus alpinus, represent one of the most culturally and commercially important salmonids in the Canadian Arctic, fine-scale assessments of genetic structure in northern populations of this species are rare. In this study, we assessed population structure in anadromous Arctic char from Cumberland Sound in Canada's Nunavut territory using 18 microsatellite loci. Specifically, we aimed at identifying potential habitat and landscape/geographic features influencing genetic variation and population structure and resolving potential barriers to gene flow. Overall population structure was moderate (global F-ST and Jost's D of 0.042 and 0.236 respectively) and significant among all sampling locations. Habitat and landscape/geographic features, with the exception of fluvial (shoreline) distance, appeared to have little influence on genetic variation and population structure. Bayesian clustering revealed a hierarchical model of population structure, in which the 14 sampling locations were nested within two distinct clusters corresponding to the north and south shores of Cumberland Sound. Both isolation-by-distance analysis and calculations of mean dispersal distance suggest dispersal and gene flow is highest among proximate locations. Finally, several putative barriers to gene flow were identified and one, a putative barrier separating north and south Cumberland Sound, was consistent with the hierarchical STRUCTURE results. Our results suggest that the current river-specific management of commercially harvested Arctic char is appropriate. Overall, we provide further insights into the evolution of genetic variation and population structure in iteroparous, Arctic salmonids. 
Arctic char; Salvelinus alpinus; Population structure; Genetics; Hierarchical; Cumberland Sound