Abstract
The genetic diversity of metapopulations is influenced not only by the effective sizes (N e ) of individual subpopulations, but also by the total effective size of the metapopulation (meta-N e ). We estimated meta-N e of four neighbouring Atlantic salmon populations connected by gene flow using genetic estimates of subpopulation N e s and migration rates derived from capture–recapture data. The \( meta{\hbox{-}}\hat{N}_{e} \) was lower than the sum of \( \hat{N}_{e} \)s of the subpopulations, suggesting that genetic diversity harboured by the four river salmon metapopulation is lower than what would have been expected by viewing individual subpopulations separately. In addition, \( meta{\hbox{-}}\hat{N}_{e} \) was found to be sensitive to changes in \( \hat{N}_{e} \) of the subpopulation from which net emigration rate was largest, so as that the genetic diversity of the metapopulation would be best preserved by avoiding any reductions in N e of this subpopulation. Yet, this subpopulation is the one that has historically—and still is—experiencing the highest exploitation rate in the metapopulation system.
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We thank ESF Conservation Genetics program and Academy of Finland for financial support. We thank Daniel Ruzzante and two anonymous referees for their comments on the earlier version of the manuscript.
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Kuparinen, A., Tufto, J., Consuegra, S. et al. Effective size of an Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) metapopulation in Northern Spain. Conserv Genet 11, 1559–1565 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-009-9945-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-009-9945-6