TomD
2012-02-15 06:55:15
Genetic impact of escaped farmed Atlantic salmon
(Salmo salar L.) on native populations: use of DNA profiling
to assess freshwater performance of wild, farmed, and hybrid
progeny in a natural river environment
P. McGinnity, C. Stone, J. B. Taggart, D. Cooke,
D. Cotter, R. Hynes, C. McCamley, T. Cross, and
A. Ferguson
McGinnity, P., Stone, C., Taggart, J. B., Cooke, D., Cotter, D., Hynes, R.,
McCamley, C., Cross, T., and Ferguson, A. 1997. Genetic impact of escaped farmed
Atlantic salmon (Sulmo salar L.) on native populations: use of DNA profiling to assess
freshwater performance of wild, farmed, and hybrid progeny in a natural river
environment. - ICES Journal of Marine Science, 54: 998-1008.
Since Atlantic salmon (Salmo salur L.) used for farming are usually genetically
different from local wild populations, breeding of escaped farmed salmon potentially
results in genetic changes in wild populations. To determine the likelihood and impact
of such genetic change, an experiment was undertaken, in a natural spawning tributary
of the Burrishoole system in western Ireland, to compare the performance of wild,
farmed, and hybrid Atlantic salmon progeny. Juveniles were assigned to family and
group parentage by DNA profiling based on composite genotypes at seven minisatel-
lite loci. Survival of the progeny of farmed salmon to the smolt stage was significantly
lower than that of wild salmon, with increased mortality being greatest in the period
from the eyed egg to the first summer. However, progeny of farmed salmon grew
fastest and competitively displaced the smaller native fish downstream. The offspring
of farmed salmon showed a reduced incidence of male parr maturity compared with
native fish. The latter also showed a greater tendency to migrate as autumn pre-smolts.
Growth and performance of hybrids were generally either intermediate or not
significantly different from the wild fish. The demonstration that farmed and hybrid
progeny can survive in the wild to the smolt stage, taken together with unpublished
data that show that these smolts can survive at sea and home to their river of origin,
indicates that escaped farmed salmon can produce long-term genetic changes in
natural populations. These changes affect both single-locus and high-heritability
quantitative traits, e.g. growth, sea age of maturity. While some of these changes may
be advantageous from an angling management perspective, they are likely, in specific
circumstances, to reduce population fitness and productivity. Full assessment of these
changes will require details of marine survival, homing and reproductive performance
of the adults together with information on the F, generation.
0 1997 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
Key words: Age of maturity, Atlantic salmon, DNA profiling, farmed escapes, genetic
variability, growth, local adaptation, Sulmo s&r, survival.
P. McGinnity. D. Cooke, and D. Cotter: Salmon Research Agency of Ireland, Furnace,
Newport, County Mayo, Ireland. C. Stone, R. Hynes, C. McCumley, and A. Ferguson:
School of Biology and Biochemistry, The Queen’s University, Medical Biology Centre,
97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BTP 7BL, Northern Ireland, UK. J. B. Tuggart: Department
of Biological and Molecular Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland,
UK. T. Cross: Zoology Department, University College, Cork, Ireland. Correspondence
to McGinnity.
Here is the link to the full text of the paper.
This is also another small Article I read and it interested me ,heres the link.
Thank you everyone.