Robinson Zachary L, Coombs Jason A, Hudy Mark, Nislow Keith H, Whiteley Andrew R
Wildlife Biology Program, Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, College of Forestry and Conservation University of Montana Missoula Montana USA.
Northeast Fishery Center US Fish and Wildlife Service Lamar Pennsylvania USA.
Evol Appl. 2024 Sep 30;17(10):e13769. doi: 10.1111/eva.13769. eCollection 2024 Oct.
Brook Trout () populations have experienced marked declines throughout their native range and are presently threatened due to isolation in small habitat fragments, land use changes, and climate change. The existence of numerous, spatially distinct populations poses substantial challenges for monitoring population status (e.g., abundance, recruitment, or occupancy). Genetic monitoring with estimates of effective number of breeders ( ) provides a potentially powerful metric to complement existing population monitoring, assessment, and prioritization. We estimated for 71 Brook Trout habitat units in mid-Atlantic region of the United States and obtained a mean of 73.2 (range 6.90-493). Our modeling approach tested whether estimates were sensitive to differences in habitat size, presence of non-native salmonids, base flow index, temperature, acidic precipitation, and indices of anthropogenic disturbance. We found significant support for three of our hypotheses including the positive influences of available habitat and base flow index and negative effect of temperature. Our results are consistent with presently observed and predicted future impacts of climate change on populations of this cold-water fish. Importantly, these findings support the use of in population assessments as an index of relative population status.
溪鳟（Salvelinus fontinalis）种群在其原生范围内经历了显著下降，目前由于栖息地碎片化、土地利用变化和气候变化而受到威胁。众多空间上不同的种群的存在对监测种群状况（如丰度、补充率或占有率）构成了重大挑战。通过估计有效繁殖者数量（Ne）进行遗传监测提供了一个潜在的有力指标，以补充现有的种群监测、评估和优先级排序。我们估计了美国中大西洋地区71个溪鳟栖息地单元的Ne，得到的平均Ne为73.2（范围为6.90 - 493）。我们的建模方法测试了Ne估计值是否对栖息地大小、非本地鲑科鱼类的存在、基流指数、温度、酸性降水和人为干扰指数的差异敏感。我们发现我们的三个假设得到了显著支持，包括可用栖息地和基流指数的积极影响以及温度的负面影响。我们的结果与目前观察到的以及预测的气候变化对这种冷水鱼种群的未来影响一致。重要的是，这些发现支持在种群评估中使用Ne作为相对种群状况的指标。
