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Effective size of an Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) metapopulation in Northern Spain

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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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Acknowledgments

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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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65, 00014, Turku, Finland

    Anna Kuparinen & Juha Merilä

  2. Center for Conservation Biology, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Norwegian University of Sciences and Technology, 7491, Trondheim, Norway

    Jarle Tufto

  3. Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DA, UK

    Sonia Consuegra

  4. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), 7485, Trondheim, Norway

    Kjetil Hindar

  5. School of the Environment and Society, Institute of Environmental Sustainability, Swansea University, Singleton Park, SA2 8PP, Swansea, UK

    Carlos Garcia de Leaniz

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  1. Anna Kuparinen
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  2. Jarle Tufto
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  3. Sonia Consuegra
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  4. Kjetil Hindar
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  5. Juha Merilä
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  6. Carlos Garcia de Leaniz
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Correspondence to Anna Kuparinen.

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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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