Long-term stocking practices threaten the original genetic diversity of the southernmost European populations of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar (original) (raw)

2020, Endangered Species Research

Many Atlantic salmon Salmo salar populations in Europe are threatened by previous stocking with foreign hatchery strains. Temporal patterns of genetic characteristics of salmon from northern Spain, the southernmost European populations, were compared before and after species decline and heavy stocking with specimens from northern Europe. Eleven microsatellite loci were analysed in archival (scales from 1958-1960) and contemporary (2007-2008) samples from the River Sella. Temporal analyses revealed a similar heterozygosity between archival and contemporary samples, despite a drastic decrease in population abundance, while the contemporary sample showed a higher allelic richness due to the occurrence of foreign alleles. Considering only the alleles with at least 4% frequency in the archival sample, 2 alleles exclusive to the River Sella were absent in the contemporary sample, and 14 alleles showed a decrease of at least 4% frequency. Four alleles common in Scotland showed a high occur...

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