Evolution in Salmon Hatcheries
Washington Sea Grant’s NOAA Fisheries Fellow studies how inbreeding in salmon hatcheries may affect the productivity of wild populations.
Charles Waters, University of Washington, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
Kerry Naish, University of Washington, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
Jeff Hard, NOAA, Northwest Fisheries Science Center
Captive breeding programs can rebuild depleted populations and aid in the recovery of threatened or endangered species. However, numerous factors can reduce effective population sizes within captive breeding programs and thus increase the risk of inbreeding. Inbreeding may lead to inbreeding depression, which is a serious genetic risk that may negatively affect the adaptive potential of the entire population and increase the risk of extinction. This research aims to quantify the eco-evolutionary effects of inbreeding in salmon hatcheries on wild populations. The project will be one of the first to explicitly link inbreeding with population dynamics and will identify critical levels of inbreeding to avoid in fisheries management.
Waters, C.D, M.S.O. Brieuc, D.E. Fast, C.M. Knudsen, W.J. Bosch, M.K. Purcell, D.G. Elliott, K.I. Warheit, K.A. Naish. In prep. Effects of supportive breeding on loci underlying fitness traits in Chinook salmon. Target Journal: Molecular Ecology.
Waters, C.D, J.J. Hard, M.S.O. Brieuc, D.E. Fast, K.I. Warheit, R.S. Waples, C.M. Knudsen, W.J. Bosch, K.A. Naish. Submitted. What can genomics tell us about the success of enhancement programs in anadromous Chinook salmon? A comparative analysis across four generations. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Research Programme Special Issue.
Waters, C.D, J.J. Hard, M.S.O. Brieuc, D.E. Fast, K.I. Warheit, R.S. Waples, C.M. Knudsen, W.J. Bosch, K.A. Naish. 2015. Effectiveness of managed gene flow in reducing genetic divergence associated with captive breeding. Evolutionary Applications8: 956-971.
Brieuc, M.S.O., C.D. Waters, J.E. Seeb, K.A. Naish. 2014. A dense linkage map for Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) reveals variable chromosomal divergence following an ancestral whole genome duplication event. G3:Genes, Genomes, Genetics 4: 447-460.