Genetic diversity of a Daugava basin brown trout (Salmo trutta) brood stock

Abstract

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Genetics play an increasingly important role in the conservation of threatened fish populations. We have examined twelve microsatellite markers to determine the genetic diversity of a brood stock of brown trout from the Latvian Daugava river basin, used in a local supportive breeding program and compared diversity values to other Baltic populations. Allelic data was further inspected for indications of increased inbreeding. Additionally, we have analyzed the mitochondrial control region to classify the population within a broader phylogenetic framework. We found that the genetic diversity was comparatively low, but there was no strong evidence of high inbreeding. A newly detected mitochondrial haplotype indicates unnoticed genetic diversity of “Atlantic lineage” brown trout in the Daugava basin region. Our study provides first genetic details on resident brown trout from the Baltic Daugava river basin to improve the regional conservation management of this valuable genetic resource and contributes phylogeographically useful information.

Keywords

• ex situ conservation
• individual inbreeding coefficient F
• D-loop
• effective population size Ne
• salmonids