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Restoring marble trout genes in the Soča River (Slovenia)

Two decades of monitoring the introgression

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Abstract

In Slovenia, the unique watershed naturally hosting the marble trout is the Soča River, called Isonzo in Italy. In 1993–1996 molecular data established the existence of extensive hybridization with stocked Atlantic domestic lineages which is a threat for this taxon and for the economy of the country established on the angling tourism. Different management actions have been developed for restoring marble genes since 1996: banning stocking of brown trout, revising fishing regulations for anglers and testing genetically brood stock in hatchery for stocking phenotypic and pure marble fry. This long fight against hybridization was genetically surveyed using allozymes, mitochondrial sequences and microsatellites according to the available technique at each period. Despite the irregularity of genotyping along nearly fifteen years after the new management started, it appears that the proportion of domestic lineage in the river dropped regularly of about 2% each year, a positive result for conservative management measures.

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Acknowledgements

The authors warmly thank Ghislaine Cattaneo-Berrebi, Bernard Lasserre, Sophie Dubois and Zhaojun Shao for genotyping most of the trout in the genetic laboratory of the Montpellier University, and David Schikorski of the Labofarm private company (France) for genotyping another part of the trout. This research was partly funded by MAVA Foundation to A.J.C.

Funding

This research was funded by MAVA Foundation to A.J.C.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genome - Research & Diagnostic, 697 avenue de Lunel, 34400, Saint-Just, France

    Patrick Berrebi

  2. Zavod Sara Vuri, Prekomorskih brigad 10, 5220, Tolmin, Slovenia

    Dušan Jesenšek

  3. MFFP, Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parc du Québec, Quebec, Canada

    Martin Laporte

  4. Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat, Le Sambuc, 13200, Arles, France

    Alain J. Crivelli

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  1. Patrick Berrebi
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  2. Dušan Jesenšek
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  4. Alain J. Crivelli
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Correspondence to Patrick Berrebi.

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Sampling was done at a time no administrative authorization was necessary. However, because all the captures were done by local managers (Tolmin Anglers Association), it was done in agreement with local authorities. Concerning fish sacrifice, samples for allozymic genotyping were anesthetized with MS222 until death. This is one of the authorized methods.

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Berrebi, P., Jesenšek, D., Laporte, M. et al. Restoring marble trout genes in the Soča River (Slovenia). Conserv Genet 23, 481–494 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-022-01430-0

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