Planktonic fauna of small salmon rivers in the Kola Peninsula

The zooplankton of 23 small salmon rivers of the White Sea and Barents Sea basins in the Kola Peninsula were studied. The species composition and quantitative indices in juvenile salmonids habitats are characterized. The maximum species diversity and abundance of planktonic fauna were recorded in lake-regulated rivers and places with large quantities of water. The quantitative development of zooplankton in rivers is low, which testifies to its minor role as a food resource for salmonid juveniles. The assessment of the ecological state of the river water is presented.     

Adaptive and Neutral Genetic Variation and Colonization History of Atlantic Salmon, Salmo salar

Synopsis I combined neutral microsatellite markers with the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class IIB to study genetic differentiation and colonization history in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, in the Baltic Sea and in the north-eastern Atlantic. Baltic salmon populations have lower levels of microsatellite genetic variation, in terms of heterozygosity and allelic richness than Atlantic populations, confirming earlier findings with other genetic markers, suggesting that the Baltic Sea populations have been exposed to genetic bottlenecks, most likely at a founding event. On the other hand, the level of MHC variation was similar in the Baltic and in the north-eastern Atlantic, indicating that positive balancing selection has increased the level of MHC-variation. Both microsatellite and MHC class IIB genetic variation give strong support to the hypothesis that the Baltic salmon are of a biphyletic origin, the southern population in this study is strongly differentiated from both the northern Baltic salmon populations and from the north-eastern Atlantic populations. Salmon may have colonized the northern Baltic Sea either from the south, via the so called “N?rke strait” or from the north, via a proposed historical connection between the White Sea and the northern Baltic. At microsatellites, no significant isolation-by distance was found at either colonization route. At the MHC, populations were significantly isolated by distance when assuming that colonization occurred via the “N?rke strait”.     

The effect of migratory behaviour on genetic diversity and population divergence: a comparison of anadromous and freshwater Atlantic salmon Salmo salar

The genetic diversity of anadromous and freshwater Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) populations from north-west Russia and other north European locations was compared using microsatellite variation to evaluate the importance of anadromous migration, population size and population glacial history in determining population genetic diversity and divergence. In anadromous Atlantic salmon populations, the level of genetic diversity was significantly higher and the level of population divergence was significantly lower than among the freshwater Atlantic salmon populations, even after correcting for differences in stock size. The phylogeographic origin of the populations also had a significant effect on the genetic diversity characteristics of populations: anadromous populations from the basins of the Atlantic Ocean, White Sea and Barents Sea possessed higher levels of genetic diversity than anadromous populations from the Baltic Sea basin. Among the freshwater populations, the result was the opposite: the Baltic freshwater populations were more variable. The results of this study imply that differences in the level of long-term gene flow between freshwater populations and anadromous populations have led to different levels of genetic diversity, which was also evidenced by the hierarchical analysis of molecular variance. Furthermore, the results emphasize the importance of taking the life history of a population into consideration when developing conservation strategies: due to the limited possibilities for new genetic diversity to be generated via gene flow, it is expected that freshwater Atlantic salmon populations would be more vulnerable to extinction following a population crash. Hence, high conservation status is warranted in order to ensure the long-term survival of the limited number of European populations with this life-history strategy.     

Hybrid origin of Baltic salmon-specific parasite Gyrodactylus salaris: a model for speciation by host switch for hemiclonal organisms

Host switching explains the high species number of ectoparasitic, viviparous, mainly parthenogenetic but potentially hermaphroditic flatworms of the genus Gyrodactylus. The starlike mitochondrial phylogeny of Gyrodactylus salaris suggested parallel divergence of several clades on grayling (also named as Gyrodactylus thymalli) and an embedded sister clade on Baltic salmon. The hypothesis that the parasite switched from grayling to salmon during the glacial diaspora was tested using a 493-bp nuclear DNA marker ADNAM1. The parasites on salmon in lakes Onega and Ladoga were heterozygous for divergent ADNAM1 alleles WS1 and BS1, found as nearly fixed in grayling parasites in the White Sea and Baltic Sea basins, respectively. In the Baltic salmon-specific mtDNA clade, the WS/BS heterozygosity was maintained in 23 out of the 24 local clones. The permanently heterozygous clade was endemic in the Baltic Sea basin, and it had accumulated variation in mtDNA (31 variable sites on 1600 bp) and in the alleles of the nuclear locus (two point mutations and three nucleotide conversions along 493 bp). Mendelian shuffling of the nuclear alleles between the local clones indicated rare sex within the clade, but the WS/BS heterozygosity was lost in only one salmon hatchery clone, which was heterozygous WS1/WS3. The Baltic salmon-specific G. salaris lineage was monophyletic, descending from a single historical hybridization and consequential host switch, frozen by permanent heterozygosity. A possible time for the hybridization of grayling parasite strains from the White Sea and Baltic Sea basins was during the Eemian interglacial 132 000 years bp. Strains having a separate divergent mtDNA observed on farmed rainbow trout, and on salmon in Russian lake Kuito were suggested to be clones derived from secondary and tertiary recombination events.     

Past, current, and future of the central European corridor for aquatic invasions in Belarus

We analyzed the role of the waterways of Belarus in the spread of aquatic exotic invertebrates through the central European invasion corridor. Present day Belarus became critically important when in the end of the 18th—beginning of the 19th century three interbasin canals connecting rivers from the Black and Baltic seas basins were constructed for international trade. These canals became important pathways facilitating the spread of aquatic alien species. For more than a hundred years, only Ponto-Caspian species colonized Belarus using ships and especially timber in rafts exported by Russia into Western Europe. In the second half of the 20th century, new vectors of spread appeared in Belarus, such as stocking of economically important invertebrates and accidental introductions. This paper is the first comprehensive review of aquatic exotic invertebrates in Belarus. Currently, 19 exotic aquatic invertebrates are known in Belarus, including 14 species of Ponto-Caspian origin. The rate of spread of aquatic invasive species in the second half of the 20th century increased 7-fold compared to the 19th—beginning of the 20th century. We found a significant positive correlation between the time since initial invasion and number of waterbodies colonized. We predict a further increase in the rate of colonization of Belarus by exotic invertebrates as well as an increase in the diversity of vectors of spread and donor areas of alien species, especially when the ongoing reconstruction of the interbasin canals will be completed and the hydrological connection between Black Sea and Baltic Sea basins will be reestablished after an interruption that has lasted for almost a century.     

Differences in the host resistance of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., stocks to the monogenean Gyrodactylussalaris Malmberg, 1957

The susceptibility and resistance of hatchery-reared salmon parr, native to the rivers Neva (U.S.S.R. Baltic Sea), Alta (northern Norway) and Lone (western Norway) (both eastern Atlantic Ocean), to Gyrodactylus salaris from Norway, was examined. The level of resistance to the parasite was assessed from counts, made on anaesthetized salmon, ofthe numbers of G. salaris after an initial experimental exposure (2 weeks) to G. salaris-infected salmon. Three experiments, all in water at c. 12° C, were carried out: (1) 50 Alta and 50 Neva salmon, initial mean parasite intensity c. 12; (2) 50 Lone and 50 Neva salmon, initial mean parasite intensity c. 60; (3) 10 Lone and 10 Neva salmon individually isolated, initial intensity one gravid G. salaris . In both the Norwegian salmon stocks, the G. salaris infrapopulations steadily increased during the experimental period of 5 weeks, in contrast to a prominent decline in the Neva salmon stock, after, respectively: (Exp. 1) week 3, average peak intensity 32.6; (Exp. 2) week 2, average peak intensity 58.7; and (Exp. 3) week 3, average peak intensity 6.3. The hatchery-reared Baltic Neva stock demonstrated both an innate and an acquired resistance towards G. salaris , in contrast to the highly susceptible, Norwegian Alta and Lone salmon stocks.     

Realization of the project for Acipenser oxyrhynchus oxyrhynchus restoration in the basin of the Neman River

The results of the works on the international project for the Baltic sturgeon restoration in the basin of the Neman River are considered. The mutual goal of the project is the restoration of the Baltic sturgeon population in its whole former area in the Baltic Sea. Successful works on the restoration of the Baltic sturgeon population are conducted in the Oder and the Vistula basins. The stockings of the Neman River with the sturgeon fry were started from 2012 year. It is contemplated that the sturgeon stockings of the main rivers of the Baltic Sea will enable to restore local sturgeon populations in these river basins. Till the beginning of the XXI century it was supposed that the Atlantic sturgeon Acipenser sturio had inhabited the Baltic Sea, but numerous genetic analysis of the samples of the sturgeon bones from the archeological finds in the museums showed that the Baltic Sea had been inhabited with Acipenser oxyrhynchus and its population still inhabits several rivers in Canada. This discovery permitted to start the creation of the Baltic sturgeon broodstock. Sturgeon fry from the eggs imported from Canada were used for stocking at the first stage of the project. Later it is contemplated to use the fry from the broodstocks in Germany and Poland. Sturgeon fry hatched from Canadian eggs in Poland and reared in Lithuania was used for the Neman River stocking. The fry were tagged and released in the Neris and the Sventoji Rivers in the Neman River basin. The sturgeon migrated into the Curonian lagoon where the monitoring of the catches was fulfilled. The results of sturgeon catches monitoring are discussed.     

Lunar periodicity and the timing of river entry in Atlantic salmon Salmo salar

Historical catch records of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar from three rivers discharging to the Baltic Sea in an area free from tides and from strong effects of the moon on illumination were analysed to investigate whether timing of S. salar river entry was associated with lunar cycles directly. Although a significant effect of lunar phase on river entry was detected, with more fish entering rivers around the full moon than other phases, the effect of the lunar cycle was very small compared with other sources of variation. Hence, the biological role of lunar cycle as a determinant of the timing of S. salar runs in the investigated populations was negligible, suggesting that lunar cycle per se does not play a role in the timing of S. salar river entry.     

Linnaeus' Neptunea (Mollusca: Gastropoda)

Three species of the arcto-boreal, large gastropod Neptunea , described by Linnaeus in 1758 and 1771, occur in large numbers over wide areas of the inshore North Atlantic and adjacent Arctic seas and are conspicuous among Pliocene and Pleistocene molluscs in the Icelandic, North Sea, and western Mediterranean basins. Selections of lectotypes for these species from shells in the collection of the Linnean Society of London, and designations of their type localities, establish the identity of Linnaeus' neptunes and more accurately determine their geographic and geologic distribution. The geographic range of Neptunea (Neptunea) antiqua (L.), the type species, now extends from southern Norway to the northern Biscay coast of France and from the westernmost Baltic Sea to southwestern Ireland; this species also occurs in Pliocene-Holocene marine deposits in West and East Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, England and France. Its type locality is determined to be the North Sea. N. (Neptunea) despecta (L.) lives in the eastern Canadian Arctic, off southern Greenland, the Barents Sea, and North Atlantic as far south as Massachusetts and Portugal; it also occurs in Pliocene-Holocene strata of eastern Canada, east-central Greenland, Norway (including Svalbard), the Soviet Union, Sweden and England. Its type locality is determined to be the postglacial deposits at Uddevalla in southwestern Sweden. N. (Sulcosipho) contraria (L.) now extends from the southern Biscay coast of France to Cape Spartel, Morocco; this species also occurs in Pleistocene and lower Holocene sequences of the western Mediterranean. Its type locality is determined to be Vigo Bay, Spain. A closely related fossil species, N. (S.) angulata (S. V. Wood), occurs in Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits of the North Sea basin.     

Genetic differentiation among natural European populations of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., from drainages of the Atlantic Ocean

Previously published allelic frequencies at four polymorphic protein coding loci were used as a basis for examining genetic relationships among 19 European populations of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L.--exclusive of Baltic drainages--from the Barents Sea to Spain. The data did not support a model of distinct ancestral (e.g. Boreal and Celtic) origins, but were consistent with all populations descending from a single ancestral group within this region with genetically diverged populations drawn together through limited local migrations.     

Identification of the origin of an Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) population in a recently recolonized river in the Baltic Sea

The founder event in a recently recolonized salmon population in the Baltic Sea (Gulf of Finland) was investigated. To identify the origin of the founders, four wild populations and two hatchery stocks were analysed using six microsatellite loci. The results of assignment tests and factorial correspondence analysis suggest that the initial recolonizers of the river Selja originated from the geographically nearest (7 km) wild population (river Kunda) but as the result of stocking activities, interbreeding between recolonizers and hatchery individuals has occurred in subsequent years. Although the hatchery releases are outnumbering the wild salmon recruitment in the Baltic Sea at present, our results suggest that the native populations may still have an important role in colonization processes of the former salmon rivers.     

Thiamin dynamics during the adult life cycle of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

Thiamin is an essential water-soluble B vitamin known for its wide range of metabolic functions and antioxidant properties. Over the past decades, reproductive failures induced by thiamin deficiency have been observed in several salmonid species worldwide, but it is unclear why this micronutrient deficiency arises. Few studies have compared thiamin concentrations in systems of salmonid populations with or without documented thiamin deficiency. Moreover, it is not well known whether and how thiamin concentration changes during the marine feeding phase and the spawning migration. Therefore, samples of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were collected when actively feeding in the open Baltic Sea, after the sea migration to natal rivers, after river migration, and during the spawning period. To compare populations of Baltic salmon with systems without documented thiamin deficiency, a population of landlocked salmon located in Lake Vänern (Sweden) was sampled as well as salmon from Norwegian rivers draining into the North Atlantic Ocean. Results showed the highest mean thiamin concentrations in Lake Vänern salmon, followed by North Atlantic, and the lowest in Baltic populations. Therefore, salmon in the Baltic Sea seem to be consistently more constrained by thiamin than those in other systems. Condition factor and body length had little to no effect on thiamin concentrations in all systems, suggesting that there is no relation between the body condition of salmon and thiamin deficiency. In our large spatiotemporal comparison of salmon populations, thiamin concentrations declined toward spawning in all studied systems, suggesting that the reduction in thiamin concentration arises as a natural consequence of starvation rather than to be related to thiamin deficiency in the system. These results suggest that factors affecting accumulation during the marine feeding phase are key for understanding the thiamin deficiency in salmonids.     

Molecular faunistics of accidental infections of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gyrodactylus</Emphasis> Nordmann, 1832 (Monogenea) parasitic on salmon <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salmo salar</Emphasis> L. and brown trout <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salmo trutta</Emphasis> L. in NW Russia

Salmon Salmo salar L. and brown trout S. trutta L. juveniles were examined for the presence of accidental monogenean ectoparasitic species of Gyrodactylus Nordmann, 1832 in the Baltic and White Sea basins of Russian Karelia in order to estimate the frequency of host-switching attempts on an ecological timescale. To collect phylogeographical information and for exact species identification, the parasites were characterised by nuclear internal transcribed spacer sequences of rDNA (ITS) and, for some species, also by their mitochondrial DNA (CO1 gene) sequences. Four accidental Gyrodactylus species were observed on salmon and brown trout. A few specimens of G. aphyae Malmberg, 1957, the normal host of which is the Eurasian minnow Phoxinus phoxinus (L.), were observed on lake salmon from the Rivers Kurzhma (Lake Kuito, White Sea basin) and Vidlitsa (Lake Ladoga, Baltic basin). G. lucii Kulakovskaya, 1952, a parasite of the northern pike Esox lucius L., was observed on salmon in the Kurzhma. In the River Vidlitsa, two specimens of G. papernai Ergens & Bychowsky, 1967, normally on stone loach Barbatula barbatula (L.), were found on salmon. On anadromous White Sea salmon in the River Pulonga in Chupa Bay, a few salmon parr carried small colonies of G. arcuatus Bychowsky, 1933, which were shown to have originated from the local three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus L. consumed as prey. No specimens of Gyrodactylus salaris Malmberg, 1957 were observed, although the Pulonga is the nearest salmon spawning river to the River Keret', which is heavily infected with introduced G. salaris. In the River Satulinoja, Lake Ladoga, three specimens of G. lotae Gusev, 1953, from burbot Lota lota (L.), were collected from a single brown trout S. trutta. All nonspecific gyrodactylid infections on salmonids were judged to be temporary, because only a few specimens were observed on each of the small number of infected fishes. The prevalence of endemic G. salaris was also low, only 1% (Nfish = 296) in Lake Onega and 0.7% (Nfish = 255) in Lake Ladoga, while brown trout specific Gyrodactylus species were not observed on any of the 429 trout examined from the Ladoga basin. The host-specific and unspecific burden of Gyrodactylus spp. on these 'glacial relict' populations of salmon and brown trout was very low, suggesting a generalised resistance against the co-evolved freshwater parasite community, or some kind of 'vaccination' effect. These hypotheses deserve further testing.     

Allelic polymorphism in MHC class II B in four populations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

We sequenced exon 2 of the MHC class II B gene in Atlantic salmon from the Baltic Sea and identified 17 different exon 2 alleles among 22 different restriction fragment length polymorphism haplotypes. The sequences differed at between 1 and 34 bases. Two different tests were used to estimate the importance of recombination in the generation of new alleles. Recombination events appear to have occurred between three and nine times. Only two pairs of sequences differed by less than five nucleotides, minimizing the importance of point mutations for generating new alleles. Phylogenetic analysis showed that sequences did not cluster according to populations, and genetic distances between populations were small compared to those obtained by allele frequency data. These results, together with the similarity found between exon 2 sequences from Baltic salmon and Norwegian salmon, indicate that all of the identified alleles were present in the ancient salmon population colonizing the Baltic rivers after the last glaciation.     

Assessing seasonal changes in stock composition of Atlantic salmon catches in the Baltic Sea with genetic stock identification

The feasibility of using genetic stock identification to analyse seasonal changes in stock compositions of Atlantic salmon catches in the Baltic Sea was examined. The analysis employed seven variable allozyme loci from most of the potentially contributing stocks (16) from Finland and Sweden. Catch samples were collected from Finnish salmon fisheries in the eastern Bothnian Sea during the 1992 fishing season. Simulation studies were used to evaluate the feasibility of identifying Baltic salmon stocks with allozyme data. Special attention was paid to analysing the wild production of salmon stocks. Clear seasonal differences in stock composition were found. The estimates were compared with smolt production and Carlin-tag data. The proportions of the Neva and Oulujoki river stocks could be estimated as individual stocks, whereas the contributions of the remaining stocks were estimated as four composite stock groups. One of the groups consisted of wild stocks from the rivers Kalixälven and Simojoki. Identification of this group, which could be used as an index of wild production in the catches, requires catch sample sizes >300 salmon if <15% error is required.     

Initial steps of speciation by geographic isolation and host switch in salmonid pathogen Gyrodactylus salaris (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae)

To test the hypothesis that host-switching can be an important step in the speciation of gyrodactylid monogenean flatworms, we inferred the phylogeny within a cluster of parasites morphologically close to Gyrodactylus salaris Malmberg 1957, collected from Atlantic, Baltic and White Sea salmon (Salmo salar), farmed rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and grayling (Thymallus thymallus) from Northern Europe. The internal transcribed spacer region of the nuclear ribosomal gene was sequenced for taxonomic identification. Parasites on grayling from the White Sea Basin differed from the others by one nucleotide (0.08%), the remainder were identical to the sequence published earlier from Norway (G. salaris on salmon), England (Gyrodactylus thymalli on grayling), and the Czech Republic (unidentified salaris/thymalli on trout). For increased resolution, 813 nucleotides of the mitochondrial COI gene of 88 parasites were sequenced and compared with 76 published sequences using phylogenetic analysis. For all tree building algorithms (NJ, MP), the parasites formed a star-like phylogeny of six definite sister clades, indicating nearly simultaneous radiation. Average K2P distances between clades were 1.8-2.6%, and internal mean distances 0.2-1.1%. The genetic distance to the nearest known relative, Gyrodactylus lavareti Malmberg, was 24%. A variable salmon-specific mitochondrial Clade I was observed both in the Baltic Basin and in pathogenic populations introduced to the Atlantic and White Sea coasts. An invariable Clade II was common in rainbow trout farms in Sweden, Denmark and Finland; the same haplotype was also infecting salmon in a landlocked population in Russian Karelia, and in Oslo fjord and Sognefjord in Norway. Four geographically vicariant sister clades were observed on graylings: Clade III in the Baltic Sea Basin; Clade IV in Karelian rivers draining to the White Sea; Clade V in Norwegian river draining to Swedish lake V?nern; and Clade VI in rivers draining to Oslo fjord. The pattern fitted perfectly with the postglacial history of grayling distribution. Widely sampled clades from salmon and Baltic grayling had basal haplotypes in populations, which were isolated early during the postglacial recolonisation. The divergence between the six clades was clear and linked with their hosts, but not wide enough to support a species status for them. Parasites from the Slovakian type population of G. thymalli were not available, so this result does not mean that G. salaris and G. thymalli are synonyms. It is suggested that the plesiomorphic host of the parasite cluster was grayling, and the switch to salmon occurred at least once when the continental ice isolated Baltic salmon in an eastern freshwater refugium, 130,000 years ago. At the same time, parasites on grayling were split geographically and isolated into several allopatric refugia. The divergence among the parasite clades allowed a tentative calibration of the evolutionary rate, leading to an estimate of the divergence of 13.7-20.3% per million years for COI coding mtDNA. The results supported the hypothesis that parallel to the allopatric mode, host switch and instant isolation by host specificity can be operated as a speciation mechanism.     

Postglacial colonization of Northern Europe by distinct phylogeographic lineages of the bullhead, Cottus gobio

Three major phylogeographic lineages of the cottid fish Cottus gobio (bullhead) were identified in northern Europe from mitochondrial DNA sequences and allozyme data. The largely separate freshwater distributions of the lineages demonstrate distinct postglacial colonization histories. West of the Baltic Sea, Swedish lakes were invaded from the southwest (Germany). Another, eastern lineage has colonized the inland waters northeast and east of the Baltic, from refugia in northwest Russia; this lineage comprises a distinct subgroup found only from Estonia. The third lineage, found south and southeast of the Baltic, probably descended from rivers draining to the Black Sea from the north (e.g. Dnepr). In coastal waters of the Baltic Sea, and in near-coast inland waters, the lineages are now found intermixed in various combinations. The alternating fresh- and saltwater phases of the Baltic basin have variously enabled and disabled the use of coastal waters as colonization routes. Hypotheses on the chronology of dispersal and lineage mixing can be based on the distribution of the marker genes and the paleohydrographical record. The diversity of the Fennoscandian bullhead thus comprises anciently diverged (probably mid-Pleistocene) refugial lineages that in their freshwater range constitute distinct evolutionarily significant units. The thorough mixing of the various genomic origins in and around the Baltic, however, refutes the controversial view of distinct species status for the western and eastern ('Cottus koshewnikowi') bullheads. The postglacial contact of the lineages has created new diversity that cannot be interpreted in a conventional hierarchical framework of taxonomic or conservation units.     

Population and size-specific distribution of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar in the Baltic Sea over five decades

Population-specific assessment and management of anadromous fish at sea requires detailed information about the distribution at sea over ontogeny for each population. However, despite a long history of mixed-stock sea fisheries on Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, migration studies showing that some salmon populations feed in different regions of the Baltic Sea and variation in dynamics occurs among populations feeding in the Baltic Sea, such information is often lacking. Also, current assessment of Baltic salmon assumes equal distribution at sea and therefore equal responses to changes in off-shore sea fisheries. Here, we test for differences in distribution at sea among and within ten Atlantic salmon Salmo salar populations originating from ten river-specific hatcheries along the Swedish Baltic Sea coast, using individual data from >125,000 tagged salmon, recaptured over five decades. We show strong population and size-specific differences in distribution at sea, varying between year classes and between individuals within year classes. This suggests that Atlantic salmon in the Baltic Sea experience great variation in environmental conditions and exploitation rates over ontogeny depending on origin and that current assessment assumptions about equal exploitation rates in the offshore fisheries and a shared environment at sea are not valid. Thus, our results provide additional arguments and necessary information for implementing population-specific management of salmon, also when targeting life stages at sea.     

Increasing temperature associated with increasing grilse proportion and smaller grilse size of Atlantic salmon

Effects of temperature on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were analysed using Carlin tag recovery data (1985–2014), and mixed-stock catch data (smolt years from 2001 to 2012) in northern parts of the Baltic Sea. During warmer summers, the mean smolt length of the recaptured salmon tended to be smaller, and salmon were recaptured more frequently in feeding grounds closer to the home rivers in the Gulf of Bothnia, while colder summers were associated with more recaptures further south, in the Baltic Main Basin. Moreover, a warmer spring in the smolt year was associated with decreased weight of male grilses in mixed stock data. Further, warmer spring temperatures during the smolt year were associated with a higher proportion of one-sea-winter (1SW) males during the return migration in mixed stock data. These results suggest that the increasing global temperature may affect Atlantic salmon life history demographics.     

Haplotype Frequency Distribution in Northeastern European Saduria entomon (Crustacea: Isopoda) Populations. A Phylogeographic Approach

The distribution pattern of mtDNA haplotypes in distinct populations of the glacial relict crustacean Saduria entomon was examined to assess phylogeographic relationships among them. Populations from the Baltic, the White Sea and the Barents Sea were screened for mtDNA variation using PCR‐based RFLP analysis of a 1150 bp fragment containing part of the CO I and CO II genes. Five mtDNA haplotypes were recorded. An analysis of geographical heterogeneity in haplotype frequency distributions revealed significant differences among populations. The isolated populations of S. entomon have diverged since the retreat of the last glaciation. The geographical pattern of variation is most likely the result of stochastic (founder effect, genetic drift) mechanisms and suggests that the haplotype differentiation observed is probably older than the isolation of the Baltic and Arctic seas.