PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 36: Genetics / Population Ecology
Thursday, August 11, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall 220 A-E, Level 2, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Kin distributions of wild young-of-the-year Atlantic salmon in Catamaran Brook, New Brunswick.
Brodeur, Nathalie*,1, Noel, Michelle1, Venter, Oscar1, Dayanandan, Selvadurai1, Grant, James1, 1 Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
ABSTRACT- In laboratory conditions, juvenile salmonids preferentially settle next to and are less aggressive towards kin versus nonkin. However, there is little evidence for such kin-biased behaviour in the wild. We tested for an association between the local-scale distribution patterns of young-of-the-year Atlantic salmon and their degree of relatedness in Catamaran Brook, New Brunswick. In August 2004, 91 young-of-the-year salmon in an 8x40-m reach were captured by snorkelling, after which the foraging locations (x,y-coordinates) were recorded. Following adipose fin removal, each fish was returned to the exact location of capture. Nine polymorphic tetranucleotide microsatellite loci were amplified and resolved on the ABI 310 Genetic Analyzer. Various software were used to score the resulting alleles and a measure of relatedness between individuals was calculated. The preliminary results suggest that patterns of kin-biased behaviour are not evident at this local spatial scale. However, we are currently undertaking analyses of data collected at a larger scale within the brook.
Key words: atlantic salmon, kinship, microsatellites, wild population