Genetic structuring and conservation of sockeye salmon on the Asian coast of the North Pacific: identification of regional stock complexes

Abstract

In order to describe large-scale spatial structure of sockeye salmon on the Asian part of the range, the variability of 45 SNP loci was analyzed in 22 samples from the Northwest coast of the Pacific Ocean. Three large regional population complexes were identified: Southwest Kamchatka, Kamchatka River basin, and the Northeast (comprising stocks from Koryak Highlands). Populations within the identified complexes are connected by gene migration and have a common origin, close geographic proximity, comparable climatic, landscape, and environmental conditions in the freshwater and early marine periods of sockeye salmon life. Populations confined to watersheds of the North coast of the Sea of Okhotsk (Palana and Okhota rivers), along with island populations, displayed distinctions from the isolated population complexes. It is hypothesized that the marked divergence observed in island populations is primarily caused by genetic drift occurring during long periods of isolation. The pronounced divergence of Palana River population may be the result of both genetic drift and natural selection, driven by the challenging smoltification and specific conditions of freshwater period in this watershed. At the same time in the Okhota River population, demographic factors such as genetic drift and bottlenecks played a key role.