The role of Salvelinus in contemporary studies of evolution, trophic ecology and anthropogenic change

Abstract

The first international symposium on Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) was held in May, 1981, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, following shortly after the release of the seminal publication Charrs: Salmonid Fishes of the Genus Salvelinus (Balon, 1980), and sought to bring together scientists from nations in the circumpolar region containing Arctic charr or its close relatives in the S. alpinus complex. Since then, symposia have been held in Japan (1988), Norway (1994), Canada (2000), Iceland (2006), Scotland (2009) and Russia (2012). On the 14th June 2015, reflecting a buoyant research interest in Salvelinus, 112 participants from 13 countries gathered for the 8th International Charr Symposium in Tromso, Norway. Hosted by the UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, delegates included: 9 from Russia, 13 from USA, 15 from Canada, 9 from Japan, 8 from Iceland, 6 from Sweden, 3 from Scotland, 2 from Finland, 1 each from France, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Spain and 43 from Norway. In total, there were 79 oral presentations and 28 posters presented over the 4 days of meetings. Topical themes covered by the presentations and posters included anadromy, aquaculture, climate change, ecology, evolution, genetics, fisheries management, life history, parasitology and pollution impacts. Although the majority (two-thirds) of studies presented at the symposium focused on Arctic charr, there were many devoted to Dolly Varden charr (Salvelinus malma), Lake charr (Salvelinus namaycush), Brook charr (Salvelinus fontinalis) and Whitespotted charr (Salvelinus leucomaenis). The contributions covered two major geographic areas: northern Europe, and the Pacific basin drainages of the Asian and North American coasts. The vast area comprising the range of Salvelinus between these two more highly investigated regions was represented by only a few presentations from the Kola Peninsula, Siberia and Greenland, with the geographic spread of studies Guest editors: M. Power, R. Knudsen, C. E. Adams, M. J. Hansen, J. B. Dempson, M. Jobling & M. Ferguson / Advances in Charr Ecology and Evolution