Functional genetic diversity in an exploited marine species and its relevance to fisheries management.

ABSTRACT: The timing of reproduction influences key evolutionary and ecological processes in wild populations. Variation in reproductive timing may be an especially important evolutionary driver in the marine environment, where the high mobility of many species and few physical barriers to migration provide limited opportunities for spatial divergence to arise. Using genomic data collected from spawning aggregations of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) across 1600 km of coastline, we show that reproductive timing drives population structure in these pelagic fish. Within a specific spawning season, we observed isolation by distance, indicating that gene flow is also geographically limited over our study area. These results emphasize the importance of considering both seasonal and spatial varia

SUBMITTER: Petrou EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7934995 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature