Dispersal and gene flow in anadromous salmonids: A systematic review

Abstract

Dispersal is a ubiquitous ecological process that has been extensively studied in many plants and animals. Anadromous salmonids are an interesting system for examining dispersal, in part because of their well-known philopatric behaviour, but also because of the conservation challenges related to the dispersal of hatchery-origin fish. Building on earlier work, we provide an updated systematic review of dispersal and gene flow in anadromous salmonids. In particular, we compared studies on the dispersal of anadromous salmonids from wild and hatchery origins, including studies providing estimates of dispersal rates, observations of dispersal and results from modelling studies. We reviewed 228 studies and found these were unevenly distributed among species, with Atlantic salmon, Chinook salmon and sea trout being well-represented. Our results showcase considerable variability in estimated dispersal rates within and across studies, which is likely related to the different methodologies, dispersal propensities across species and populations, and spatial extents considered. Overall, our results confirmed a higher tendency of hatchery fish to disperse relative to wild fish, but we also found some variation across species that warrants further study. Moreover, we found that dispersal propensity tended to decline exponentially with distance and that the drivers of dispersal varied considerably among studies. Additionally, we highlight various facets of dispersal captured across this suite of studies, including variation in terminology, methods and metrics for characterising dispersal, and the spatio-temporal scales considered. Finally, our review revealed that few studies considered, and even fewer assessed, the implications of dispersal for the conservation and management of anadromous salmonids.