A Genetic Survey of English Sole Populations in the Salish Sea

• Main Authors: Gutierrez, Elizabeth S, Winans, Gary A, Baker, Jon, Cope, Amanda
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@CalPoly 2012
• Subjects: English Sole; Population Genetics; Salish Sea; Microsatellite; Aquaculture and Fisheries; Biodiversity; Evolution; Genetics; Laboratory and Basic Science Research; Marine Biology; Molecular Genetics; Population Biology; Science and Mathematics Education; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/star/131; https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/context/star/article/1117/viewcontent/Gutierrez__Elizabeth_2012_STAR_Poster.pdf

This summer I interned at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, WA and participated in NOAA’s Salish Sea Project. The Salish Sea Project’s goal is to identify genetically distinctive groups of species in the Salish Sea that may have unique evolutionary and/or adaptive backgrounds. These findings will allow NOAA to promote and monitor the natural production of species in the Salish Sea, to select representative populations for experimental work regarding pollution, ocean acidification and climate change, to contribute to managing the ecosystem for intra- and inter-species diversity, and to help make informed decisions about adaptive management and marine protected areas (MPA). Our focus for the summer was English Sole (Parophrys vetulus). We performed microsatellite analysis on 480 individuals over ten populations and used factoid correspondence analysis to summarize the variation across five loci. Significant differences were seen among only three of the ten populations. These results are preliminary; up to fifteen loci should be analyzed before a conclusion is reached on the genetic variability of these populations. We would also like to include English Sole populations north of the Strait of Georgia, and along the Oregon coast.