Genetic differences among the Interior Highlands walleye (Sander vitreus) with mitochondrial and nuclear markers indicate the need for updated stocking practices
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Conservation Genetics
Abstract
Glacial cycles and pre-glacial drainage patterns have imbued the Interior Highlands of the United States with a rich suite of freshwater taxa and phylogroups. However, supplementation of sportfish from the Great Lakes into the waterbodies of this region, including the Missouri, Ouachita, Black, White, and Little Red River drainages, may have obscured phylogeographic patterns. Walleye (Sander vitreus), one of the most common sportfish in the eastern US, inhabit the Interior Highlands but their population genetic composition and structure in this region has received little attention. We examined the genetic composition of walleye (n = 643) in the Interior Highlands using microsatellite markers and a subsample (n = 188) with mitochondrial DNA and found significant genetic differences among walleye in our study area. Walleye from the Missouri, Ouachita, White, and Little Red drainages were most closely related to a Great Lakes reference sample, a common stocking source. However, the Black River, in the easternmost portion of the Interior Highlands, contained walleye with mitochondrial DNA that was closely related to walleye from the Eastern Highlands. The remainder of the study area drainages contained a mix of walleye groups, more closely related to Great Lakes rather than Highlands walleye but not definitively the product of stocking. Though managers have relied on mitochondrial markers for stock identification in the past, we recommend that walleye in regions receiving little research attention be analyzed with nuclear markers to better understand and preserve genetic diversity and that managers stock with local walleye only within the drainages that we identified as genetically distinct: Black, Missouri, and White/Little Red/Ouachita.
First Page
347
Last Page
359
DOI
10.1007/s10592-023-01504-7
Publication Date
6-1-2023
Recommended Citation
Berkman, Leah K.; Titus, Chelsea L.; Thomas, Dustin R.; Fluker, Brook L.; Cieslewicz, Paul; Knuth, Dave; Koppelman, Jeffrey B.; and Eggert, Lori S., "Genetic differences among the Interior Highlands walleye (Sander vitreus) with mitochondrial and nuclear markers indicate the need for updated stocking practices" (2023). Arkansas Biosciences Institute. 93.
https://arch.astate.edu/abi/93
