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Eco-geographic units, population hierarchy, and a two-level conservation strategy with reference to a critically endangered salmonid, Sakhalin taimen Parahucho perryi

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Abstract

Hierarchical population structure can result from range-wide geographic subdivision under conditions of environmental heterogeneity and weak gene flow. While a lower level of structure can be formed by local populations within eco-geographic regions, an upper level can be characterized by variation between populations from different regions, and thus, be represented by evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) defined by environmental, ecological and genetic variation. Selection of ESUs may depend on the sequence of using these three sources of variation. We propose to determine ESUs by first using non-genetic, ecological and geographical gradients for defining preliminary population groups (eco-geographic units, EGUs) and then testing whether the boundaries of these units are genetically coherent and thus represent ESUs or warrant their further modification. We evaluate this approach using Sakhalin taimen, an East Asian endangered endemic fish. Forty-one samples (473 fish) were drawn from thirty populations across the species range and genotyped at microsatellite DNA markers. We assign the populations into ESUs based on geographic and life history criteria and subsequent application of genetic diversity analyses. The ESUs appeared to be greatly diverged genetically. Within ESUs, local populations are genetically differentiated, have low effective sizes, show signatures of demographic decline and extremely restricted gene flow. Conservation plans aimed to restore or maintain a specific threatened population should take into account such hierarchical structure, and in particular be based on the genetic resources drawn from each population or using ecologically and genetically similar populations from the same ESU as donors for restoration of the population.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to the Agency ‘Rosprirodnadzor’ for permissions to obtain genetic samples from Sakhalin taimen populations and to S. Didenko for setting up of field expeditions. We are indebted to D. Didenko (travel agency “Ostrov”) for his great help in sampling, as well as other samplers listed in Table A1. Field expeditions and genetic work were supported in part by Grants to L.Zh. from RAS program “Living Nature– Genofonds”, and from “Sakhalin Salmon Initiatives”; all participants were also supported by funds of their institutions, and P.R. by a Grant from National Geographic Society. We are grateful to Dr. Robin Waples and an anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments on the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Anatoly Yu. Semenchenko

    Present address: Scientific and Educational Complex “Primorsky Aquarium”, Far Eastern Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, Russia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 3 Gubkin St., Moscow, 119991, Russia

    Lev A. Zhivotovsky, Andrey A. Yurchenko & Marina V. Shitova

  2. Sakhalin Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia

    Vitaly D. Nikitin & Sergei N. Safronov

  3. Khabarovsk Branch of Pacific Research Fisheries Centre, Khabarovsk, Russia

    Sergei F. Zolotukhin

  4. FGUP “Sakhalinrybvod”, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia

    Sergei S. Makeev

  5. Institute of Zoology, Graz, Austria

    Steven Weiss

  6. Wild Salmon Center, Portland, OR, USA

    Peter S. Rand

  7. ANO “Sakhalin Salmon Initiatives”, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia

    Anatoly Yu. Semenchenko

Authors
  1. Lev A. Zhivotovsky
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  2. Andrey A. Yurchenko
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lev A. Zhivotovsky.

Additional information

Lev A. Zhivotovsky and Andrey A. Yurchenko have contributed equally to this work.

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Zhivotovsky, L.A., Yurchenko, A.A., Nikitin, V.D. et al. Eco-geographic units, population hierarchy, and a two-level conservation strategy with reference to a critically endangered salmonid, Sakhalin taimen Parahucho perryi . Conserv Genet 16, 431–441 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-014-0670-4

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