Characterization of the Genetic Structure among Brook Trout in LeConte Creek, Tennessee
Richards AL, King TL, Lubinski BA, Moore SE, Kulp M, Webb LS. 2008. Characterization of the Genetic Structure among Brook Trout in LeConte Creek, Tennessee. Pages 195-202. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. 62
Beginning in the early 1900s, the original range and abundance of brook trout within Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) was drastically reduced due to landscape alterations resulting from increased logging and introduction of nonnative salmonid species. Consequently, brook trout populations retreated to the headwaters of most streams, resulting in geographic isolation due to waterfalls and eventual genetic differentiation of the fish inhabiting these streams. In an effort to reestablish LeConte Creek's extirpated brook trout population, GRSM fisheries managers collected fish from three streams known to support populations of genetically pure "Southern Appalachian" brook trout (Greenbrier, Cosby and Indiana Camp Creeks). Brook trout were collected, pooled, and transplanted into LeConte Creek. Upon successful completion of the stocking effort, managers were interested in determining if all three streams contributed equally to the reestablished population or whether one population was better adapted to the conditions of LeConte Creek than another. Seven years post-stocking, minimally-invasive tissue samples were collected from 50 randomly selected brook trout, genotyped at 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci, and compared to the parental populations. Our preliminary, individual-based analyses suggest that the LeConte Creek collection represents three separate, but co-existing, populations as 76% of the sampled fish were found to have parents that originated from either same-stream matings (i.e., positive assortative mating) or from some form of post-reproductive isolating mechanism that selected against individuals resulting from out-crossed matings.
- Type
- Conference Proceeding Paper
- Authors
- Richards, Amber; King, Tim; Lubinski, Barbara; Moore, Stephen; Kulp, Matthew; Webb, Lisa
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- assortative mating, Brook Trout, Cosby Creek, Genetics, Greenbrier Creek, GRSM-00673, GRSM-00863, Indian Camp Creek, Leconte Creek, microsatellite DNA, Population Structure
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Fishes