A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Population structure and genetic management of Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis)
Authors: Pritchard VL, Metcalf JL, Jones K, Martin AP, Cowley DE
Publisher: SPRINGER
Publication year: 2009
Journal: Conservation Genetics
Journal name in source: CONSERVATION GENETICS
Journal acronym: CONSERV GENET
Volume: 10
Issue: 5
First page : 1209
Last page: 1221
Number of pages: 13
ISSN: 1566-0621
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-008-9652-8
Abstract
The Rio Grande cutthroat trout, Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis, has declined precipitously over the past century, and currently exhibits a highly fragmented distribution within the Canadian, Pecos and Rio Grande river systems of the western United States. The relationships between populations in the three river drainages, and between O. c. virginalis and the closely related taxa O. c. pleuriticus and O. c. stomias, are not well understood. In order to guide management decisions for the subspecies, we investigated the distribution of variation at 12 micro-satellite loci and two regions of the mitochondrial genome. We observed a high level of genetic differentiation between O. c. virginalis populations occupying different headwater streams ( global F-st = 0.41). However, we found evidence for previous gene flow within the Rio Grande drainage, indicating that inter-population differentiation may have been exacerbated by the recent effects of population fragmentation. Despite large-scale anthropogenic movement of individuals from the Rio Grande into the Canadian and Pecos, the genetic signature of long-term evolutionary independence between the three drainages has been retained.
The Rio Grande cutthroat trout, Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis, has declined precipitously over the past century, and currently exhibits a highly fragmented distribution within the Canadian, Pecos and Rio Grande river systems of the western United States. The relationships between populations in the three river drainages, and between O. c. virginalis and the closely related taxa O. c. pleuriticus and O. c. stomias, are not well understood. In order to guide management decisions for the subspecies, we investigated the distribution of variation at 12 micro-satellite loci and two regions of the mitochondrial genome. We observed a high level of genetic differentiation between O. c. virginalis populations occupying different headwater streams ( global F-st = 0.41). However, we found evidence for previous gene flow within the Rio Grande drainage, indicating that inter-population differentiation may have been exacerbated by the recent effects of population fragmentation. Despite large-scale anthropogenic movement of individuals from the Rio Grande into the Canadian and Pecos, the genetic signature of long-term evolutionary independence between the three drainages has been retained.
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