An Examination Of The Genetic Composition Of A Putative Relict Population Of Lake Sturgeon In The White River, Indiana
Andrea M. Drauch, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907; (765) 496-6868; adrauch@purdue.edu
Brant E. Fisher, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Edinburgh, IN 46124
Olin E. Rhodes, Jr., Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907
Reintroduction is a tactic commonly employed to restore threatened or endangered fish and wildlife species. A concern of particular relevance to reintroduction programs involving fish species is the maintenance of genetic integrity in particular stocks. Individual stocks may be adapted to local environmental conditions, and the introduction of non-native fish to a watershed may jeopardize the survival of the released cohort, as well as the persistence of native conspecifics by contributing maladaptive genes to the gene pool. Recently, several state agencies have expressed interest in reintroducing the endangered lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens, to the Ohio River drainage system. A single relict population of lake sturgeon, found in the White River, is thought to exist in this drainage. It is suspected that the population primarily consists of remnant individuals, however the possibility exists that fish from reintroduced populations in the Missouri or Mississippi Rivers have migrated into the White River system. Population assignment tests were performed using multilocus genotype data from ten microsatellite loci to resolve the genetic composition of the White River population. The results of this analysis will assist in the selection of an appropriate source population for future lake sturgeon reintroductions to maintain the genetic integrity of the Ohio River stocks.