Novel experiments on wild Atlantic silversides Menidia menidia suggest that parents are capable of pre-conditioning their offspring to the naturally occurring, seasonal acidification in their spawning habitat (shape depicts the annual pattern of pH mean, minimum and maximum).
Assessing the potential of marine organisms to adapt genetically to increasing oceanic CO2 levels requires proxies such as heritability of fitness-related traits under ocean acidification (OA). We applied a quantitative genetic method to derive the first heritability estimate of survival under elevated CO2 conditions in a metazoan. Specifically, we reared offspring, selected from a wild coastal fish population (Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia), at high CO2 conditions (∼2300 μatm) from fertilization to 15 days posthatch, which significantly reduced survival compared to controls. Perished and surviving offspring were quantitatively sampled and genotyped along with their parents, using eight polymorphic microsatellite loci, to reconstruct a parent–offspring pedigree and estimate variance components. Genetically related individuals were phenotypically more similar (i.e., survived similarly long at elevated CO2 conditions) than unrelated individuals, which translated into a significantly nonzero heritability (0.20 ± 0.07). The contribution of maternal effects was surprisingly small (0.05 ± 0.04) and nonsignificant. Survival among replicates was positively correlated with genetic diversity, particularly with observed heterozygosity. We conclude that early life survival of M. menidia under high CO2 levels has a significant additive genetic component that could elicit an evolutionary response to OA, depending on the strength and direction of future selection.
Background: In 2016, an Archimedes Screw Generator (ASG) was installed at the Hanover Pond Dam located in Meriden, CT on the Quinnipiac River to support hydroelectric operations for New England Hydropower Company, LLC (NEHC). The ASG is the first of its kind implemented in the United States, and while they are largely described as ‘fish-friendly’, adequate scientific literature evaluating fish passage is lacking at these facilities. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) with consultation from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Kleinschmidt Associates designed and implemented a study to evaluate American Shad downstream fish passage at Hanover Pond Dam. The objective of this study was to document whether American Shad would enter the darkened penstock, pass beneath the downward closing sluice gate, and utilize the ASG for safe downstream passage. A radio telemetry study was designed with three fixed monitoring stations; including one station upstream of the dam, another station within the intake structure, and a third station downstream of the dam. Twenty adult American Shad were collected from Holyoke Dam Fish lift, transported to Hanover Pond, and radio-tagged. Fish were released upstream of the dam and monitored from May 30 to July 15, 2019.Results: In total, 16 fish were detected upstream of the dam, and 8 of those fish passed downstream. Seven of the eight fish that passed through the project (87.5%) utilized the intake of the ASG before being detected at the downstream receiver. One fish passed downstream via the spillway and/or use of a notch in the dam. All fish that passed downstream were detected with subsequent 2-second tag bursts at the downstream monitoring station, suggesting a 100% survival rate through the ASG.Conclusions: These results support the suggestion that the Archimedes Screw Generator is a ‘fish friendly’ operation.
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