PARENT SESSION
Poster Session 27: Fish Ecology
Thursday, August 11, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM, Exhibit Hall 220 A-E, Level 2, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Genetic and environmental influences on fitness related traits in three populations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).
Darwish, Tamara*,1, Hutchings, Jeffrey1, 1 Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
ABSTRACT- Population differences in fitness related traits can be attributed to either genetic or environmental effects. Reaction norms describe a set of phenotypes that can be produced by a genotype that is exposed to different environmental conditions. They also enable the genetic and environmental influences of fitness related traits to be disentangled, allowing some indication as to the adaptive value of the trait in question. In this study we tested for among-population differences in early life-history traits in three Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) populations. The Atlantic salmon populations used were crosses of wild and farmed salmon, two of which were F1 generation backcrosses. Common garden experiments were performed at three temperatures, and survival and size (length and yolk sac volume) were measured at time of hatching. Differences in genetic variation for survival and size, as well as reaction norms indicate that there is genetic variation in plasticity for these fitness related traits. If differences in early life history traits are observed, they may suggest that there is potential for selection on phenotypic plasticity of fitness related traits, and that hybridization of different populations can effect local adaptation of native populations. These results will provide insight into the potential negative effects of river stocking, and to its impacts on the native salmon populations.
Key words: Atlantic Salmon, Phenotypic plasticity, Norms of reaction, Common garden experiments