Genetic Variability and Structuring of Arctic Charr (Salvelinus alpinus) Populations in Northern Fennoscandia.

ABSTRACT: Variation in presumably neutral genetic markers can inform us about evolvability, historical effective population sizes and phylogeographic history of contemporary populations. We studied genetic variability in 15 microsatellite loci in six native landlocked Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) populations in northern Fennoscandia, where this species is considered near threatened. We discovered that all populations were genetically highly (mean FST ≈ 0.26) differentiated and isolated from each other. Evidence was found for historical, but not for recent population size bottlenecks. Estimates of contemporary effective population size (Ne) ranged from seven to 228 and were significantly correlated with those of historical Ne but not with lake size. A census size (NC) was estimated to be approxi

SUBMITTER: Shikano T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4607410 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature