Lack of molecular genetic divergence between sea-ranched and wild sea trout (Salmo trutta)

The supportive breeding programme for sea trout (Salmo trutta) in the River Dalälven, Sweden, is based on a sea‐ranched hatchery stock of local origin that has been kept ‘closed’ to the immigration of wild genes since the late 1960s (about seven generations). In spite of an apparent potential for substantial uni directional gene flow from sea‐ranched to wild (naturally produced) trout, phenotypic differences with a presumed genetic basis have previously been observed between the two ‘stocks’. Likewise, two previous studies of allozyme and mitochondrial DNA variation based on a single year of sampling have indicated genetic differentiation. In the present study we used microsatellite and allozyme data collected over four consecutive years, and tested for the existence of overall genetic stock divergence while accounting for temporal heterogeneity. Statistical analyses of allele frequency variation (F‐statistics) and multilocus genotypes (assignment tests) revealed that wild and sea‐ranched trout were significantly different in three of four years, whereas no overall genetic divergence could be found when temporal heterogeneity among years within stocks was accounted for. On the basis of estimates of effective population size in the two stocks, and of F_ST between them, we also assessed the level of gene flow from sea‐ranched to wild trout to be ≈ 80% per generation (with a lower confidence limit of ≈ 20%). The results suggest that the reproductive success of hatchery and naturally produced trout may be quite similar in the wild, and that the genetic characteristics of the wild stock are largely determined by introgressed genes from sea‐ranched fish.