Biodiversity of Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) : sympatric morphs and hybridization with Dolly Varden (S. malma) in southwestern Alaska ...

• Main Author: May-McNally, Shannan Leigh
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2014
• Subjects: Arctic; Salvelinus alpinus; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0135591; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0135591

Resource polymorphism and natural hybridization are evolutionary phenomena that play an important role in the development of reproductive isolation during speciation. The Arctic char (Salmonidae: Salvelinus alpinus) exhibits substantial phenotypic and genetic diversity across its Holarctic range, making it an ideal species to examine the role of intraspecific trophic polymorphism in driving reproductive isolation and the interactions between hybridizing species in sympatry. In one southwestern post-glacial lake previously analyzed for resource polymorphism (Lower Tazimina Lake), I found evidence for two genetic groups of char and for significant differences in the distribution of microsatellite variability among at least two of the three previously described body-size morphotypes (‘large’, ‘medium’, and ‘small’–bodied char; maximum FST = 0.09). I also found significant associations between genetic type and gill raker counts among body-size morphs (r = -0.73, P < 0.001). These data represent the first ...