Development of SNP for Species Identification With Special Focus on the Cryptic Species Complex of .

The genus in the North Atlantic comprises of long lived deep-waters species that have been extensively fished upon, and many stocks are severely depleted across the Atlantic. This is particularly evident for the species . In recent papers, cryptic species have been indicated within this genus and molecular markers are therefore needed to provide identification for the species, including the cryptic species as a basis for advice regarding management and rebuilding of the stocks.

Efficient and reliable methods for estimating the abundance of keystone coastal macrofauna over large spatial scales.

Coastal bivalves are important ecosystem engineers, and identifying critical habitats can enhance conservation outcomes for threated keystone species as well as determining hotspots for invasive species. As early action is more efficient in both conservation and mitigation of species invasions, efficient and reliable tools for mapping and monitoring species over large scales are essential. We assessed the reliability and efficiency of towed video and quadrat sampling for estimating the abundance of three keystone macrofaunal bivalve species.

Unlocking the secret life of blue mussels: Exploring connectivity in the Skagerrak through biophysical modeling and population genomics.

Knowledge of functional dispersal barriers in the marine environment can be used to inform a wide variety of management actions, such as marine spatial planning, restoration efforts, fisheries regulations, and invasive species management. Locations and causes of dispersal barriers can be studied through various methods, including movement tracking, biophysical modeling, demographic models, and genetics. Combining methods illustrating potential dispersal, such as biophysical modeling, with realized dispersal through, e.

Unclear relationships between mean survival rate and its environmental variance in vertebrates.

Current environmental changes may increase temporal variability of life history traits of species thus affecting their long-term population growth rate and extinction risk. If there is a general relationship between environmental variances (EVs) and mean annual survival rates of species, that relationship could be used as a guideline for analyses of population growth and extinction risk for populations, where data on EVs are missing. For this purpose, we present a comprehensive compilation of 252 EV estimates from 89 species belonging to five vertebrate taxa (birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish) covering mean annual survival rates from 0.

Contrasting management regimes indicative of mesopredator release in temperate coastal fish assemblages.

The absence of functional top predators has been proposed as a mechanism acting to shape fish assemblages in temperate marine ecosystems, with cascading effects on lower trophic levels. We explore this scenario by comparing the trophic and functional status of fish assemblages in Norwegian marine national parks, open to fishing, to a nearby coastal seascape that harbors a system of marine protected areas (MPAs) including a no-take zone. Demersal fish assemblages were sampled using fyke nets over three consecutive seasons.

Post-glacial colonization of the Fennoscandian coast by a plant parasitic insect with an unusual life history.

Species that exhibit very peculiar ecological traits combined with limited dispersal ability pose a challenge to our understanding of ecological and evolutionary mechanisms. This is especially true when they have managed to spread over long distances, overcome physical barriers, and colonize large areas. Climate and landscape changes, trophic web relations, as well as life history all interact to shape migration routes and present-day species distributions and their population genetic structures.

Geographic variation in gene flow from a genetically distinct migratory ecotype drives population genetic structure of coastal Atlantic cod ( L.).

Identifying how physical and biotic factors shape genetic connectivity among populations in time and space is essential to our understanding of the evolutionary trajectory as well as the management of marine species. Atlantic cod is a widespread and commercially important marine species displaying several ecotypes with different life history strategies. Using three sets of SNPs: neutral, informative, and genome-inversion linked, we studied population genetic structure of ~2500 coastal Atlantic cod (CC) from 40 locations along Norway's 2500 km coastline, including nine fjords.

Host in reserve: The role of common shrews () as a supplementary source of tick hosts in small mammal communities influenced by rodent population cycles.

Rodents often act as important hosts for ticks and as pathogen reservoirs. At northern latitudes, rodents often undergo multi-annual population cycles, and the periodic absence of certain hosts may inhibit the survival and recruitment of ticks. We investigated the potential role of common shrews () to serve as a supplementary host source to immature life stages (larvae and nymphs) of a generalist tick and a small mammal specialist tick .

50,000 years of ice and seals: Impacts of the Last Glacial Maximum on Antarctic fur seals.

Ice is one of the most important drivers of population dynamics in polar organisms, influencing the locations, sizes, and connectivity of populations. Antarctic fur seals, , are particularly interesting in this regard, as they are concomitantly reliant on both ice-associated prey and ice-free coastal breeding areas. We reconstructed the history of this species through the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) using genomic sequence data from seals across their range.

Disparate movement behavior and feeding ecology in sympatric ecotypes of Atlantic cod.

Coexistence of ecotypes, genetically divergent population units, is a widespread phenomenon, potentially affecting ecosystem functioning and local food web stability. In coastal Skagerrak, Atlantic cod () occur as two such coexisting ecotypes. We applied a combination of acoustic telemetry, genotyping, and stable isotope analysis to 72 individuals to investigate movement ecology and food niche of putative local "Fjord" and putative oceanic "North Sea" ecotypes-thus named based on previous molecular studies.

Multiple-batch spawning as a bet-hedging strategy in highly stochastic environments: An exploratory analysis of Atlantic cod.

Stochastic environments shape life-history traits and can promote selection for risk-spreading strategies, such as bet-hedging. Although the strategy has often been hypothesized to exist for various species, empirical tests providing firm evidence have been rare, mainly due to the challenge in tracking fitness across generations. Here, we take a 'proof of principle' approach to explore whether the reproductive strategy of multiple-batch spawning constitutes a bet-hedging.

Selection on fish personality differs between a no-take marine reserve and fished areas.

Marine reserves can protect fish populations by increasing abundance and body size, but less is known about the effect of protection on fish behaviour. We looked for individual consistency in movement behaviours of sea trout in the marine habitat using acoustic telemetry to investigate whether they represent personality traits and if so, do they affect survival in relation to protection offered by a marine reserve. Home range size had a repeatability of 0.

Northern European (L.) populations are genetically divergent across geographical regions and environmental gradients.

The salmonid fish Brown trout is iconic as a model for the application of conservation genetics to understand and manage local interspecific variation. However, there is still scant information about relationships between local and large-scale population structure, and to what extent geographical and environmental variables are associated with barriers to gene flow. We used information from 3,782 mapped SNPs developed for the present study and conducted outlier tests and gene-environment association (GEA) analyses in order to examine drivers of population structure.

Interbreeding between local and translocated populations of a cleaner fish in an experimental mesocosm predicts risk of disrupted local adaptation.

Translocation of organisms within or outside its native range carries the risk of modifying the community of the recipient ecosystems and induces gene flow between locally adapted populations or closely related species. In this study, we evaluated the genetic consequences of large-scale translocation of cleaner wrasses that has become a common practice within the salmon aquaculture industry in northern Europe to combat sea lice infestation. A major concern with this practice is the potential for hybridization of escaped organisms with the local, recipient wrasse population, and thus potentially introduce exogenous alleles and breaking down coadapted gene complexes in local populations.

Potential of a no-take marine reserve to protect home ranges of anadromous brown trout ().

The extent to which no-take marine reserves can benefit anadromous species requires examination. Here, we used acoustic telemetry to investigate the spatial behavior of anadromous brown trout (sea trout, ) in relation to a small marine reserve (~1.5 km) located inside a fjord on the Norwegian Skagerrak coast.

Harvest-induced evolution and effective population size.

Much has been written about fishery-induced evolution (FIE) in exploited species, but relatively little attention has been paid to the consequences for one of the most important parameters in evolutionary biology-effective population size (N e). We use a combination of simulations of Atlantic cod populations experiencing harvest, artificial manipulation of cod life tables, and analytical methods to explore how adding harvest to natural mortality affects N e, census size (N), and the ratio N e/N. We show that harvest-mediated reductions in N e are due entirely to reductions in recruitment, because increasing adult mortality actually increases the N e/N ratio.