Northern Ireland Species Action Plan Arctic Char Salvelinus alpinus

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Arctic; Ferguson; Climate change; Salmo salar; Salvelinus alpinus
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.582.8916; http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/arcticcharsapmbwebversionapril2008-4.pdf

1.1 The Arctic char Salvelinus alpinus belongs to the family Salmonidae and is closely related to trout Salmon trutta and salmon Salmo salar. It is similar in appearance to the brown trout and also has a similar ecology. Arctic char are the most northerly-distributed freshwater fish in the world and are likely to have been the first freshwater fish to re-colonise our rivers and lakes at the end of the last Ice Age, over 13,000 years ago (Igoe & Hammar, 2004). 1.2 The species has a circumpolar distribution and occurs in Ireland at the southern limit of its geographic range where it is generally confined to deep mountain lakes in which the water temperature remains cool enough for its survival. The Arctic char is highly sensitive to environmental change and is vulnerable to eutrophication, acidification, climate change and competition from introduced species. 1.3 Populations of Arctic char in Ireland appear to have remained genetically isolated in their respective lakes since the end of the Ice Age, and genetic studies have indicated that separate Irish populations are derived from a common ancestor (Ferguson, 1981). Igoe & Hammar (2004) have highlighted the significance of Irish char from genetic