Abstract
The understanding of migration patterns can significantly contribute to conservation and management. The spawning migrations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) cover thousands of kilometers from the feeding areas at sea to their natal rivers to reproduce. Migrating salmon are exposed to intensive harvest, but little is known of the population-specific differences in migration behavior. In this study, timing of return migration was investigated among one-sea-winter Atlantic salmon within a river system. By utilizing knowledge of the genetic population structure, population of origin was reliably identified for c. 1500 fish caught in mixed stock fisheries after adopting an approach to minimize the complications arising from potential nonsampled populations. Results demonstrated significant and temporally stable differences among populations as well as between sexes. Generally, female salmon from tributary populations entered fresh water first. Run timing was not however related to in-river migration distance. Rather, one-sea-winter salmon from larger populations and with a higher proportion of multi-sea-winter females arrived later in the season. These findings are a significant step toward a more thorough understanding of the salmon migration behavior and behavioral ecology, providing concrete tools for the management and conservation of the remaining indigenous Atlantic salmon stocks.
Highlights
Migration is a common behavioral, ecological, and evolutionary phenomenon taking many forms in animal kingdom (Dingle and Drake 2007)
Assignment of mixed stock fishery samples Genetic stock identification of 1SW salmon (n = 1925) caught in the net fishery at the lower most stretch of the Teno River was performed with baseline population data available from 14 populations (K = 14). oncor and Structure provided very similar results in assigning individuals to tributary populations, but the number of individuals assigned to the mainstem and headwater rivers (MS/HW) populations was substantially higher with oncor (Table 1)
We examined run timing of 1SW Atlantic salmon originating from multiple, genetically distinct populations within a single large river system
Summary
Migration is a common behavioral, ecological, and evolutionary phenomenon taking many forms in animal kingdom (Dingle and Drake 2007). It has been recognized that variability in this migration behavior has a crucial role in ecology and evolution of populations as physical condition or date of arrival can explain important variation in reproductive success and annual survival of individuals (Webster et al 2002). Migratory phase of a life-cycle may expose animals to diverse risks, including intensive human exploitation and migratory species may be more vulnerable to extinction threats than resident species (Pimm et al 1998). This is widely recognized and a number of behavioral biologists have acknowledged that insights to both individual and population level a 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 4 (2011) 39–53
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