Genetic structure and historic demography of endangered unarmoured threespine stickleback at southern latitudes signals a potential new management approach.

ABSTRACT: Habitat loss, flood control infrastructure, and drought have left most of southern California and northern Baja California's native freshwater fish near extinction, including the endangered unarmoured threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus williamsoni). This subspecies, an unusual morph lacking the typical lateral bony plates of the G. aculeatus complex, occurs at arid southern latitudes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and survives in only three inland locations. Managers have lacked molecular data to answer basic questions about the ancestry and genetic distinctiveness of unarmoured populations. These data could be used to prioritize conservation efforts. We sampled G. aculeatus from 36 localities and used microsatellites and whole genome data to place unarmoured populations within t

SUBMITTER: Turba R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10092051 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature