Waterscape genetics of the yellow perch (Perca flavescens): patterns across large connected ecosystems and isolated relict populations

Abstract

Comparisons of a species' genetic diversity and divergence patterns across large connected populations vs. isolated relict areas provide important data for understanding potential response to global warming, habitat alterations and other perturbations. Aquatic taxa offer ideal case studies for interpreting these patterns, because their dispersal and gene flow often are constrained through narrow connectivity channels that have changed over geological time and/or from contemporary anthropogenic perturbations. Our research objective is to better understand the interplay between historic influences and modern-day factors (fishery exploitation, stocking supplementation and habitat loss) in shaping population genetic patterns of the yellow perch Perca flavescens (Percidae: Teleostei) across its native North American range. We employ a modified landscape genetics approach, analysing sequences from the entire mitochondrial DNA control region and 15 nuclear DNA microsatellite loci of 664 spawning adults from 24 populations. Results support that perch from primary glacial refugium areas (Missourian, Mississippian and Atlantic) founded contemporary northern populations. Genetic diversity today is highest in southern (never glaciated) populations and also is appreciable in northern areas that were founded from multiple refugia. Divergence is greater among isolated populations, both north and south; the southern Gulf Coast relict populations are the most divergent, reflecting their long history of isolation. Understanding the influence of past and current waterway connections on the genetic structure of yellow perch populations may help us to assess the roles of ongoing climate change and habitat disruptions towards conserving aquatic biodiversity.

Life-history characteristics and landscape attributes as drivers of genetic variation, gene flow, and fine-scale population structure in northern Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma malma) in Canada

“…As predicted, we did find that the populations closest to Alaska, thus nearest to the Beringian refugium, exhibited the highest genetic diversity and that there was a significant negative relationship between genetic diversity and fluvial distance from the Alaskan-Yukon border. In theory (e.g., Bernatchez and Wilson 1998), and as demonstrated in numerous empirical examples (Shafer et al 2010;Sepulveda-Villet and Stepien 2012), genetic diversity should be highest in populations currently inhabiting regions not impacted by glacial events. Furthermore, decreases in genetic diversity should be associated with increasing distance from glacial refugia (e.g., Muller et al 2008;Harris and Taylor 2010).…”

Yellow perch genetic structure and habitat use among connected habitats in eastern Lake Michigan

“…Yellow perch reside in both Lake Michigan and connecting drowned river mouths (DRMs; Janetski, Ruetz, Bhagat, & Clapp, 2013). We know that yellow perch exhibit genetic structure at large, geographic scales corresponding to recolonization of most of the Great Lakes from the Mississippian refugium and eastern lakes from the Atlantic refugium (Sepulveda-Villet & Stepien, 2012). Recreational harvest of yellow perch in Lake Michigan and DRMs was managed as distinct units with lower limits in Lake Michigan (35 fish/day) than most DRMs (50 fish/day; MDNR, 2016), although a statewide harvest limit of 25 fish/day was enacted during the 2019 fishing season.…”

Are the Condition, Growth and Diet of Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) Different between the Three Major Basins of Lake George, New York?

“…Lake George currently occupies a basin that previously drained into the Hudson River in the southern basin and into Lake Champlain from the Northern basin until the last ice age scoured and deposited material to form one Lake that flows to the North. A population genetic study by SepuvedaVillet and Stepein [35] indicates separate haplotypes for Lake Champlain and the Hudson River. Since Lake George is on the edge of these two watersheds and there are distinct growth, populations and feeding differences amongst the fish within the Lake, it is possible that Lake George represents a location with both haplotypes or a mixture of the two.…”

“…Yellow perch have demonstrated subtle but distinct genetic drift across Northern temperate lakes related to the refugia they inhabited during glacial advances and retreats [35]. Lake George currently occupies a basin that previously drained into the Hudson River in the southern basin and into Lake Champlain from the Northern basin until the last ice age scoured and deposited material to form one Lake that flows to the North.…”