ARTICLE Genetic and maternal effects on juvenile survival and fitness-related traits in three populations of Atlantic salmon

• Main Authors: Aimee Lee, S Houde, Craig A Black, Chris C Wilson, Trevor E Pitcher, Bryan D Neff
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atlantic salmon; Salmo salar
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1087.7326; http://web2.uwindsor.ca/biology/pitcher/Pitcher%20lab/Publications_files/Houde%20et%20al.%202015.pdf

Abstract: Although studies addressing natural selection have primarily focused on additive genetic effects because of their direct relationship with responses to selection, nonadditive genetic and maternal effects can also significantly influence phenotypes. We partitioned the phenotypic variance of survival and fitness-related traits in juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from three allopatric populations (LaHave, Sebago, and Saint-Jean) into additive genetic, nonadditive genetic, and maternal environmental effects using a full-factorial breeding design. We also modelled the potential increase in offspring performance if nonrandom mating (e.g., mate choice) is considered instead of random mating. The three populations exhibited significant differences in trait values as well as the genetic architecture of the traits. Nevertheless, nonadditive genetic and maternal environmental effects tended to be larger than the additive genetic effects. There was also a shift from maternal environmental to genetic effects during development in two of the populations. That is, maternal environmental effects were larger at early (egg and alevin) life stages, whereas nonadditive effects were larger at the later (fry) life stage. The amount of additive genetic effects was small, suggesting the traits will respond slowly to selection. We discuss how different maternal environmental effects across years may influence the genetic architecture of offspring traits. Résumé : Si les études sur la sélection naturelle se sont principalement intéressées aux effets génétiques additifs en raison de leur lien direct avec les réactions à la sélection, les effets génétiques non additifs et les effets maternels peuvent également exercer une influence significative sur les phénotypes. Nous avons subdivisé la variance phénotypique de caractères associés à la survie et à l'aptitude chez des saumons atlantiques (Salmo salar) juvéniles de trois populations allopatriques (LaHave, Sebago et Saint-Jean) en des effets génétiques additifs, génétiques ...