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Supportive breeding boosts natural population abundance with minimal negative impacts on fitness of a wild population of C hinook salmon
Author(s) -
Hess Maureen A.,
Rabe Craig D.,
Vogel Jason L.,
Stephenson Jeff J.,
Nelson Doug D.,
Narum Shawn R.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.12046
Subject(s) - hatchery , biology , population , zoology , fish hatchery , offspring , natural population growth , fishery , reproductive success , ecology , aquaculture , fish <actinopterygii> , fish farming , demography , genetics , pregnancy , sociology
Abstract While supportive breeding programmes strive to minimize negative genetic impacts to populations, case studies have found evidence for reduced fitness of artificially produced individuals when they reproduce in the wild. Pedigrees of two complete generations were tracked with molecular markers to investigate differences in reproductive success ( RS ) of wild and hatchery‐reared C hinook salmon spawning in the natural environment to address questions regarding the demographic and genetic impacts of supplementation to a natural population. Results show a demographic boost to the population from supplementation. On average, fish taken into the hatchery produced 4.7 times more adult offspring, and 1.3 times more adult grand‐offspring than naturally reproducing fish. Of the wild and hatchery fish that successfully reproduced, we found no significant differences in RS between any comparisons, but hatchery‐reared males typically had lower RS values than wild males. Mean relative reproductive success ( RRS ) for hatchery F 1 females and males was 1.11 ( P = 0.84) and 0.89 ( P = 0.56), respectively. RRS of hatchery‐reared fish ( H ) that mated in the wild with either hatchery or wild‐origin ( W ) fish was generally equivalent to W × W matings. Mean RRS of H × W and H × H matings was 1.07 ( P = 0.92) and 0.94 ( P = 0.95), respectively. We conclude that fish chosen for hatchery rearing did not have a detectable negative impact on the fitness of wild fish by mating with them for a single generation. Results suggest that supplementation following similar management practices (e.g. 100% local, wild‐origin brood stock) can successfully boost population size with minimal impacts on the fitness of salmon in the wild.