CFOS Juneau Seminar Nov. 13: Ecotypic diversity in sockeye salmon

November 12, 2020

The College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences Department of Fisheries in Juneau will hold its weekly seminar Friday, Nov. 13, at 3:30 p.m. via Zoom. The talk will be offered by Wes Larson, who works at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

A decade-long journey to understand the genetic basis of ecotypic diversity in sockeye salmon

Sockeye salmon display extraordinary phenotypic diversity corresponding to unique spawning habitats. Most conspicuously, sockeye that spawn in small streams are markedly smaller and skinnier than sockeye spawning on deep lake shores. Over the past decade, I have used a variety of molecular tools to investigate genetic variation among these unique spawning ecotypes. This research started with analyzing a single gene involved in immune response in a single system in Bristol Bay and has now moved to whole genome resequencing to analyze millions of genetic markers across the range of sockeye salmon. Our findings over the last decade have revealed a strong genetic basis for ecotypic diversity in sockeye salmon and suggest that conserved genomic elements in their genomes represent an “evolutionary shortcut” that can be leveraged for rapid phenotypic differentiation during colonization of novel environments. These findings have substantial conservation implications and illustrate the importance of integrating adaptive genetic diversity into conservation strategies to ensure resiliency in response to rapidly changing environments.

For Zoom information please contact Gabrielle Hazelton at gdhazelton@alaska.edu.