Microsatellite DNA analysis of coastal populations of bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) in British Columbia: zoogeographic implications and its application to recreational fishery management

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1157-1171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric B Taylor ◽  
A B Costello

Microsatellite DNA variation was assayed among 383 bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) from 20 Pacific coastal localities from the Skeena River (central British Columbia) to the Olympic Peninsula (western Washington State). An average of 1.7 alleles was resolved per population and heterozygosity averaged 0.35. Twenty-six fish were identified as bull trout × Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma) hybrids. Population subdivision was substantial (θ = 0.33), but subdivision was higher (θ = 0.46) when interior populations (N = 37) were included, indicating a major genetic distinction between "coastal" and "interior" bull trout. Bull trout populations north of the Squamish River were genetically more similar to interior bull trout than to other more southern coastal populations, suggesting that they had been founded by headwater transfers from interior populations. Individual assignment of bull trout averaged 53.4% correct assignment among populations (range: 12%–95%). Mixture analysis indicated that most fish from the lower Fraser River recreational fishery originated from major nearby tributaries (e.g., Pitt, upper Lillooet, and Chilliwack rivers). Our results substantiate the existence of two major evolutionary lineages of bull trout and highlight the importance of tributary habitats for the persistence of local populations, as well as for those that forage in downstream areas on the lower Fraser River.

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric B. Taylor ◽  
Les N. Harris ◽  
Erin K. Spice ◽  
Margaret F. Docker

Parapatric freshwater and anadromous parasitic lampreys (Petromyzontiformes) from southwestern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, have been described as distinct taxa (Vancouver lamprey ( Entosphenus macrostomus (Beamish, 1982)) and Pacific lamprey ( Entosphenus tridentatus (Richardson, 1836)), respectively), using morphology, life history, and physiology. We tested for genetic differentiation at microsatellite DNA loci between these taxa and similar freshwater parasitic lampreys from two other lakes. The number of alleles and expected heterozygosity averaged 3.8 and 0.50, respectively, across loci and populations, and anadromous populations were more variable than freshwater populations. Population subdivision was moderate (FST = 0.096, P < 0.001) and 3% of the total variation was found between taxa and 1.7% was found among populations within taxa (both P < 0.001). Parapatric freshwater and anadromous parasitic lampreys separated by a maximum of 40 km were more distinct (mean FST = 0.042) than were anadromous populations located 800 km from one another (mean FST = 0.012). Localities within lakes with parasitic freshwater lampreys, however, showed little differentiation (FST = 0.0–0.08). Our data support recognizing E. macrostomus and E. tridentatus as distinct species, but similar levels of differentiation between these taxa and other freshwater parasitic lampreys suggest a species complex where the taxonomy remains unclear.


1994 ◽  
Vol 51 (9) ◽  
pp. 2115-2125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy L. McDaniels ◽  
Michael Healey ◽  
Richard Kyle Paisley

In 1991, a substantial program of cooperative salmon fishery management involving First Nations was initiated in British Columbia. This paper considers how ongoing cooperative management initiatives in this fishery could be designed and implemented. The process discussed in the paper could be viewed as an adaptive management experiment in institutional design for cooperative management. First, sets of fundamental objectives for cooperative management and strategies for achieving these objectives are developed. The methods for structuring objectives and developing strategies are drawn from decision analysis practice. Then the actual experience in implementing a version of one of the strategies during the 1992 Fraser River sockeye salmon First Nations fishery is discussed. The highly publicized and controversial events of the 1992 season are instructive about how cooperative management should be implemented in other contexts.


2012 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 755-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake M. Ferguson ◽  
Mark L. Taper ◽  
Christopher S. Guy ◽  
John M. Syslo

Determining the ecological mechanisms that control population abundances is an important issue for the conservation of endangered and threatened species. We examined whether a threatened bull trout ( Salvelinus confluentus ) population could coexist at observed levels with the ecologically similar introduced species, lake trout ( Salvelinus namaycush ), using a pattern-oriented analysis of population dynamics models. We used a large suite of stage- and age-structured models to examine how both competitive and predatory interactions, combined with differing life-history strategies and species vital rates, drove salmonid coexistence patterns. In our models, an ontogenetic shift in juvenile bull trout resource use was the most important factor contributing to the two species coexistence; however, this coexistence occurred with reduced abundances in bull trout that increase the chances of extirpation for the native species. Observed levels of competition were found to have stronger effects than predation on population abundances. We used a pattern-oriented modeling approach to inference; this approach assumes process models that can generate patterns similar to the observed patterns are better supported than those that cannot. This methodology may find wide use on a number of data-limited fishery management and conservation problems.


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