Fish conservation in the land of steppe and sky: Evolutionarily significant units of threatened salmonid species in Mongolia mirror major river basins
Abstract Mongolia's salmonids are suffering extensive population declines; thus, more comprehensive fisheries management and conservation strategies are required. To assist with their development, a better understanding of the genetic structure and diversity of these threatened species would al...
Published in: | Ecology and Evolution |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4974 https://doaj.org/article/db63e59a423046ac9a2b01da3c8625a8 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:db63e59a423046ac9a2b01da3c8625a8 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:db63e59a423046ac9a2b01da3c8625a8 2023-05-15T16:34:58+02:00 Fish conservation in the land of steppe and sky: Evolutionarily significant units of threatened salmonid species in Mongolia mirror major river basins Andrew Kaus Stefan Michalski Bernd Hänfling Daniel Karthe Dietrich Borchardt Walter Durka 2019-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4974 https://doaj.org/article/db63e59a423046ac9a2b01da3c8625a8 EN eng Wiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4974 https://doaj.org/toc/2045-7758 2045-7758 doi:10.1002/ece3.4974 https://doaj.org/article/db63e59a423046ac9a2b01da3c8625a8 Ecology and Evolution, Vol 9, Iss 6, Pp 3416-3433 (2019) Brachymystax lenok evolutionarily significant units freshwater fish conservation Hucho taimen threatened salmonids Thymallus baicalensis Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4974 2022-12-31T05:38:01Z Abstract Mongolia's salmonids are suffering extensive population declines; thus, more comprehensive fisheries management and conservation strategies are required. To assist with their development, a better understanding of the genetic structure and diversity of these threatened species would allow a more targeted approach for preserving genetic variation and ultimately improve long‐term species recoveries. It is hypothesized that the unfragmented river basins that have persisted across Mongolia provide unobstructed connectivity for resident salmonid species. Thus, genetic structure is expected to be primarily segregated between major river basins. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the population structure for three salmonid genera (Hucho, Brachymystax and Thymallus) using different genetic markers to identify evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) and priority rivers to focus conservation efforts. Fish were assigned to separate ESUs when the combined evidence of mitochondrial and nuclear data indicated genetic isolation. Hucho taimen exhibited a dichotomous population structure forming two ESUs, with five priority rivers. Within the Brachymystax genus, there were three B. lenokESUs and one B. tumensisESU, along with six priority rivers. While B. tumensiswas confirmed to display divergent mtDNA haplotypes, haplotype sharing between these two congeneric species was also identified. For T. baicalensis,only a single ESU was assigned, with five priority rivers identified plus Lake Hovsgol. Additionally, we confirmed that T. nigrescens from Lake Hovsgol is a synonym of T. baicalensis. Across all species, the most prominent pattern was strong differentiation among major river basins with low differentiation and weak patterns of isolation by distance within river basins, which corroborated our hypothesis of high within‐basin connectivity across Mongolia. This new genetic information provides authorities the opportunity to distribute resources for management between ESUs while assigning additional protection ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Hucho taimen Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Ecology and Evolution 9 6 3416 3433 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Brachymystax lenok evolutionarily significant units freshwater fish conservation Hucho taimen threatened salmonids Thymallus baicalensis Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
Brachymystax lenok evolutionarily significant units freshwater fish conservation Hucho taimen threatened salmonids Thymallus baicalensis Ecology QH540-549.5 Andrew Kaus Stefan Michalski Bernd Hänfling Daniel Karthe Dietrich Borchardt Walter Durka Fish conservation in the land of steppe and sky: Evolutionarily significant units of threatened salmonid species in Mongolia mirror major river basins |
topic_facet |
Brachymystax lenok evolutionarily significant units freshwater fish conservation Hucho taimen threatened salmonids Thymallus baicalensis Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Abstract Mongolia's salmonids are suffering extensive population declines; thus, more comprehensive fisheries management and conservation strategies are required. To assist with their development, a better understanding of the genetic structure and diversity of these threatened species would allow a more targeted approach for preserving genetic variation and ultimately improve long‐term species recoveries. It is hypothesized that the unfragmented river basins that have persisted across Mongolia provide unobstructed connectivity for resident salmonid species. Thus, genetic structure is expected to be primarily segregated between major river basins. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the population structure for three salmonid genera (Hucho, Brachymystax and Thymallus) using different genetic markers to identify evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) and priority rivers to focus conservation efforts. Fish were assigned to separate ESUs when the combined evidence of mitochondrial and nuclear data indicated genetic isolation. Hucho taimen exhibited a dichotomous population structure forming two ESUs, with five priority rivers. Within the Brachymystax genus, there were three B. lenokESUs and one B. tumensisESU, along with six priority rivers. While B. tumensiswas confirmed to display divergent mtDNA haplotypes, haplotype sharing between these two congeneric species was also identified. For T. baicalensis,only a single ESU was assigned, with five priority rivers identified plus Lake Hovsgol. Additionally, we confirmed that T. nigrescens from Lake Hovsgol is a synonym of T. baicalensis. Across all species, the most prominent pattern was strong differentiation among major river basins with low differentiation and weak patterns of isolation by distance within river basins, which corroborated our hypothesis of high within‐basin connectivity across Mongolia. This new genetic information provides authorities the opportunity to distribute resources for management between ESUs while assigning additional protection ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Andrew Kaus Stefan Michalski Bernd Hänfling Daniel Karthe Dietrich Borchardt Walter Durka |
author_facet |
Andrew Kaus Stefan Michalski Bernd Hänfling Daniel Karthe Dietrich Borchardt Walter Durka |
author_sort |
Andrew Kaus |
title |
Fish conservation in the land of steppe and sky: Evolutionarily significant units of threatened salmonid species in Mongolia mirror major river basins |
title_short |
Fish conservation in the land of steppe and sky: Evolutionarily significant units of threatened salmonid species in Mongolia mirror major river basins |
title_full |
Fish conservation in the land of steppe and sky: Evolutionarily significant units of threatened salmonid species in Mongolia mirror major river basins |
title_fullStr |
Fish conservation in the land of steppe and sky: Evolutionarily significant units of threatened salmonid species in Mongolia mirror major river basins |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fish conservation in the land of steppe and sky: Evolutionarily significant units of threatened salmonid species in Mongolia mirror major river basins |
title_sort |
fish conservation in the land of steppe and sky: evolutionarily significant units of threatened salmonid species in mongolia mirror major river basins |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4974 https://doaj.org/article/db63e59a423046ac9a2b01da3c8625a8 |
genre |
Hucho taimen |
genre_facet |
Hucho taimen |
op_source |
Ecology and Evolution, Vol 9, Iss 6, Pp 3416-3433 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4974 https://doaj.org/toc/2045-7758 2045-7758 doi:10.1002/ece3.4974 https://doaj.org/article/db63e59a423046ac9a2b01da3c8625a8 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4974 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
3416 |
op_container_end_page |
3433 |
_version_ |
1766025083616231424 |