Demogenetic structure of brown trout Salmo trutta Linnaeus, 1758 populations in mountain headwaters: implications for conservation management |
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| Authors: | L. Závorka P. Horký J. Kohout L. Kalous O. Slavík |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic;2. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden;3. Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic;4. Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Liběchov, Czech Republic |
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| Abstract: | A demogenetic analysis based on 7 years of observation (2005–2011) was conducted to examine the population structure of brown trout Salmo trutta in pristine dendritic headwaters. The value of genetic divergence (FST) among sampling units ranged from ?0.03 to 0.16. Demographic synchrony was low or moderate, and the average correlation coefficient of population growth between sampling units ( ) ranged from 0.28 to 0.66. No isolation by distance was observed, but genetic divergence was negatively correlated with demographic synchrony among sampling units. Variance in the population growth rate (i.e. local extinction probability) increased with distance from the mainstream and from other sampling units. In contradiction with the usual model of stream‐dwelling salmonids, the upstream sections of headwaters holds only ephemeral subpopulations, whereas the mainstream played a role in the source area of the metapopulation. These findings stress the importance of the mainstream in management conservation for brown trout in low productive mountain headwaters. |
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