The effect of life-history genes on eco-evolutionary dynamics (EcoEvoGene)

Informations

Funding country

Norway

Acronym

-

URL

-

Start date

1/1/2018

End date

12/31/2023

Budget

1,156,938 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

In the project EcoEvoGene, we study the interplay between evolution and ecology, using Atlantic salmon as our chief model system. A selection of our results shows that: 1) supplementary stocking unintentionally selects for domesticated genotypes and can thereby alters the demography and compromise the fitness of stocked wild populations; 2) variation in spawning population abundances are largely explained by marine survival the first winter at sea, but the trends in marine survival was not consistent across seven Canadian populations despite the global decrease in Atlantic salmon abundance; 3) using artificial selection experiments to test our ability to predict evolution has been compromised by the large effect of uncertainty in genetic parameters and genetic drift on the prediction error; 4) genetic introgression from farmed escapees causes shorter generation time of wild salmon populations; 5) changes in two genes underlying age and size at maturation mediates adaptation to reduced waterflow after river regulation and changes in food availability at sea due to commercial fishing of capelin; 6) an ecological regime shift in the North-Atlantic in 2005 caused a strong reduction in marine growth of Atlantic salmon.