Updated 2025-03-20 14:49:20
Lake Huron -> 11.0 Genetic Diversity -> Genetic Diversity of Hatchery Strains
Reporting Interval
2018 - 2022
Area
lake wide
Meeting Target?
Meets
Indicator Trend
No trend
Confidence?
High
11.1.2. Genetic diversity and success of hatchery strains
Thirteen strains of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) have been stocked into Lake Huron in significant numbers in the last 30 years. The majority of strains stocked between 2018-2022 originate from Lake Huron (Parry Sound, Lake Manitou, Iroquois Bay), as well as Lake Michigan (Lewis Lake), and inland New York (Seneca Lake) and the use of strains from outside Lake Huron has declined in recent years. Strains with origins in Lake Huron accounted for 62% of lake trout stocked between 2018-2022 while Seneca Lake strain lake trout account for ~37% of the stocking (USFWS/GLFC 2024). Estimates of genetic diversity are similar among all hatchery strains based on a recent analysis of genetic diversity (Figure 1) and depictions of genetic differentiation indicate that strains group by their lake of origin (Figure 2) (Scribner et al. 2018; Stott unpublished). This is similar to past observations made using samples of hatchery strains collected in the late 1900s (Stott 1998) and early 2000s (Page et al. 2004)(Table 1); although estimates of heterozygosity are difficult to compare directly because different sets of microsatellite DNA loci were used in each study.
Consistent with previous work (Rosema et al. 2009), genetic analysis of wild caught lake trout showed that genetic signatures of the Seneca Lake strain was found most frequently across the lake (Scribner et al. 2018), although there were some regional differences in strain success. For example, the Lake Manitou strain’s genetic signature was observed more frequently in Canadian waters of Lake Huron. The proportion of naturally produced lake trout assigned to each hatchery strain was not consistent with the stocking rate, which means that strains differed in their survival and reproductive success.
Cisco collected from northern Lake Huron between 2016 and 2018 (Figure 3) were used to create a hatchery stock. This hatchery stock was developed to stock the main basin of Lake Huron as part of an effort to restore cisco populations to the main basin and Saginaw Bay (Cisco Management Restoration Efforts 2019). Estimates of diversity as measured by observed and expected heterozygosity and allelic richness are consistent across collections sampled in multiple years (Figure 4) and genetic relationships are consistent with those observed in a recent population analysis of cisco from the Great Lakes (Stott et al. 2022).
Tables and Figures
Table 1. Comparisons of estimates of observed heterozygosity for lake trout hatchery strains stocked into Lake Huron using microsatellite DNA loci. The number of loci used in each study is given in parentheses after the citation. Note, that there may be some overlap in the samples used by Page et al. 2004 and Scriber et al. 2018. Strains stocked into Lake Huron between 2018-2022 are in italics.
Figure 1. Estimates of genetic diversity among lake trout hatchery strains stocked into Lake Huron. All strains used to stock Lake Huron are represented with those used between 2018-2022 coloured in blue. Boxplots show median value (bar), mean value (dot), quartiles, and outliers (open circles).
Figure 2. Neighbor-joining tree of Nei’s genetic distance (Nei 1972) among lake trout hatchery strains stocked into Lake Huron. Strains labelled with the same color are sourced from the same lake, black=Lake Superior, brown=Lake Michigan, blue=Lake Huron and pink=inland lakes.
Figure 3. Locations of cisco samples collected for broodstock development from northern Lake Huron 2016-2018. Inset map shows the location of collections in northern Lake Huron. Sample collections with N>20 that were used in the analysis of diversity are coloured in orange.
Figure 4. Estimates of genetic diversity for cisco collected for broodstock development 2015-2018. Collections from 2015 (coloured grey) were not used in broodstock development but were used in an analysis of population structure (Stott et al. 2022) and are provided as a reference. Only sample collections with N>20 were used in the analysis.
Methodology
Literature searches were conducted using Google Scholar to find peer reviewed papers published within the reporting period (keywords: “Lake Huron”, “lake trout”, “stocking”, “genetics”) and data collected by W. Stott on the development of cisco broodstocks and data from Stott et al. (2022). Genotype data were used to generate standard diversity metrics (observed and expected heterozygosity, allelic richness, and inbreeding coefficient) for each hatchery strain or source population and a neighbor-joining tree using Nei’s genetic distance (Nei 1972) was constructed to visualize relationships among lake trout hatchery strains. Stocking information for the reporting period were obtained from the Great Lakes Fish Stocking Database (USFWS/GLFC 2024). To compare estimates of heterozygosity among lake trout hatchery strains, previous reports on hatchery strain diversity (Page et al. 2003; Stott 1998) were used.
Other Resources
Beaver, C.E., Woolnough, D.A. and Zanatta, D.T., 2019. Assessment of genetic diversity and structure among populations of Epioblasma triquetra in the Laurentian Great Lakes drainage. Freshwater Science, 38: 527-542.
Cisco Management Restoration Efforts, 2019. Michigan Sea Grant Available from: https://www.michiganseagrant.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Cisco-Management-Restoration Efforts.pdf [Accessed 20 May 2020].
COSEWIC, 2006. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the Mapleleaf Mussel, Quadrula quadrula (Saskatchewan-Nelson population and Great Lakes-Western St. Lawrence population) in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, Ottawa
COSEWIC, 2007. COSEWIC assessment and updated status report on the Redside Dace Clinostomus elongatus in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa, ON
COSEWIC, 2014. COSEWIC Status appraisal summary for Grass Pickerel (Esox americanus vermiculatus). Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). Ottawa, ON.
Euclide, P.T., Larson, W.A., Bootsma, M., Miller, L.M., Scribner, K.T., Stott, W., Wilson, C.C. and Latch, E.K., 2022. A new GTSeq resource to facilitate multijurisdictional research and management of walleye Sander vitreus. Ecology and Evolution, 12:e9591.
Graham, C. F., Boreham, D. R., Manzon, R. G., Stott, W., Wilson, J. Y., Somers, C.M. 2020. How “simple” methodological decisions affect interpretation of population structure based on reduced representation library DNA sequencing: a case study using the lake whitefish. PLoS One. 15:e0226608. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226608.
Graham, C.F., Boreham, D.R., Manzon, R.G., Wilson, J.Y. and Somers, C.M., 2022. Population structure of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) from the Mississippian lineage in North America. FACETS, 7:853-874.
Hauser, F.E., Fontenelle, J.P., Elbassiouny, A.A., Mandrak, N.E. and Lovejoy, N.R., 2019. Genetic structure of endangered lake chubsucker Erimyzon sucetta in Canada reveals a differentiated population in a precarious habitat. Journal of fish biology, 95:1500-1505.
Johansson, M.L., Dufour, B.A., Wellband, K.W., Corkum, L.D., MacIsaac, H.J. and Heath, D.D., 2018. Human-mediated and natural dispersal of an invasive fish in the eastern Great Lakes. Heredity, 120:533-546.
Lujan, N.K., Colm, J.E., Weir, J.T., Montgomery, F.A., Noonan, B.P., Lovejoy, N.R. and Mandrak, N.E., 2022. Genomic population structure of Grass Pickerel (Esox americanus vermiculatus) in Canada: management guidance for an at-risk fish at its northern range limit. Conservation Genetics, 23:713-725.
Mathias, P.T., Hoffman, J.R., Wilson, C.C. and Zanatta, D.T., 2018. Signature of postglacial colonization on contemporary genetic structure and diversity of Quadrula quadrula (Bivalvia: Unionidae). Hydrobiologia, 810:207-225.
Morgan, T.D., Graham, C.F., McArthur, A.G., Raphenya, A.R., Boreham, D.R., Manzon, R.G., Wilson, J.Y., Lance, S.L., Howland, K.L., Patrick, P.H. and Somers, C.M., 2018. Genetic population structure of the round whitefish (Prosopium cylindraceum) in North America: multiple markers reveal glacial refugia and regional subdivision. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 75:836-849.
Nei, M., 1972. Genetic distances between populations. Am. Nat. 106:283–292.
Page, K.S., Scribner, K.T., Bennett, K.R., Garzel, L.M. and Burnham-Curtis, M.K., 2003. Genetic assessment of strain-specific sources of lake trout recruitment in the Great Lakes. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 132:877-894.
Porto-Hannes, I., Burlakova, L.E., Zanatta, D.T. and Lasker, H.R., 2021. Boundaries and hybridization in a secondary contact zone between freshwater mussel species (Family: Unionidae). Heredity, 126:955-973.
Roseman, E.F., Stott, W., O’Brien, T.P., Riley, S.C., Schaeffer, J.S. 2009. Heritage strain and diet of wild young of year and yearling lake trout in the main basin of Lake Huron. Journal of Great Lakes Research. 35:620-626.
Sard, N., Robinson, J., Kanefsky, J., Herbst, S. and Scribner, K., 2019. Coalescent models characterize sources and demographic history of recent round goby colonization of Great Lakes and inland waters. Evolutionary Applications, 12:1034-1049.
Scribner, K., Tsehaye, I., Brenden, T., Stott, W., Kanefsky, J. and Bence, J., 2018. Hatchery strain contributions to emerging wild lake trout populations in Lake Huron. Journal of Heredity, 109:675-688.
Serrao, N.R., Reid, S.M. and Wilson, C.C., 2018. Conservation genetics of redside dace (Clinostomus elongatus): phylogeography and contemporary spatial structure. Conservation genetics, 19:409-424.
Stepien, C.A., Eddins, D.J., Snyder, M.R. and Marshall, N.T., 2018. Genetic change versus stasis over the time course of invasions: trajectories of two concurrent, allopatric introductions of the Eurasian ruffe. Aquatic Invasions, 13:537-552.
Stott, W., 1998. Genetic Variation within and among Ontario Hatchery Stocks of Lake Trout (Salvelinus namayacush) as Measured by Three Molecular Market Systems: Applications to Rehabilitation and Hatchery Management. Doctoral dissertation. McMaster University, Hamilton ON Canada.
Stott, W., Yule, D., Ebener, M., Davies, C., Lenart, S., Donner, K., Olds, C. 2022. Genetic population structure of cisco, Coregonus artedi, in the Great Lakes. Journal of Great Lakes Research. 48:1696-1709.
USFWS/GLFC. 2024. Great Lakes Fish Stocking Database. Available from: http://fsis.glfc.org/ [Accessed: March, 2024].
Contributing Author(s)
- Wendy Stott - Fisheries and Oceans Canada
- Arunas Liskauskas - Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry