Monique C. Fountain | Geology Reports

USGS2000

Molecular analysis of population genetic structure and recolonization of rainbow trout following the Cantara spill

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence and allelic frequency data for 12 microsatellite loci were used to analyze population genetic structure and recolonization by rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss , following the 1991 Cantara spill on the upper Sacramento River, California. Genetic analyses were performed on 1,016 wild rainbow trout collected between 1993 and 1996 from the mainstem and in 8 tributaries. Wild trout genotypes were compared to genotypes for 79 Mount Shasta Hatchery rainbow trout. No genetic heterogeneity was found 2 years after the spill (1993) between tributary populations and geographically proximate mainstem fish, suggesting recolonization of the upper mainstem directly from adjacent tributaries. Trout collections made in 1996 showed significant year-class genetic variation for mtDNA and microsatellites when compared to fish from the same locations in 1993. Five years after the spill, mainstem populations appeared genetically mixed with no significant allelic frequency differences between mainstem populations and geographically proximate tributary trout. In our 1996 samples, we found no significant genetic differences due to season of capture (summer or fall) or sampling technique used to capture rainbow trout, with the exception of trout collected by electrofishing and hook and line near Prospect Avenue. Haplotype and allelic frequencies in wild rainbow trout populations captured in the upper Sacramento River and its tributaries were found to differ genetically from Mount Shasta Hatchery trout for both years, with the notable exception of trout collected in the lower mainstem river near Shasta Lake, where mtDNA and microsatellite data both suggested upstream colonization by hatchery fish from the reservoir. These data suggest that the chemical spill in the upper Sacramento River produced significant effects over time on the genetic population structure of rainbow trout throughout the entire upper river basin.

California↗

USGS1999

Microsatellite analyses of Alameda Creek Rainbow/Steelhead trout

Microsatellite genetic diversity found in Alameda Creek rainbow trout support a close genetic relationship with coastal trout found in Lagunitas Creek, Marin County, California. No significant genotypic or allelic frequencies associations could be drawn among Alameda Creek trout and fish collected from the four primary rainbow trout hatchery strains in use in California, Whitney, Mount Shasta, Coleman, and Hot Creek strains, indeed, genetic distance analyses (δμ 2 ) supported genetic separation among Alameda Creek trout and hatchery trout with greater than 50% bootstrap values in 1000 replicate neighbor-joining trees. Fish collected for this study from Palo Seco and Sheppard Creeks shared allelic frequencies with both the fish in Alameda Creek and those found in Scott Creek in Santa Cruz County. Fish collected in Horseshoe Creek or San Lorenzo Creek (Alameda County) did not share this unique genetic relationship between Alameda Creek fish and putative wild coastal trout. These two streams had allelic frequencies similar to some hatchery trout strains and to wild trout captured in the Central Valley. These data suggest that there are two possible steelhead ESUs using the tributaries of San Francisco Bay (one coastal and one Central Valley) or that hatchery trout supplementation has impacted some, but not all streams with a subsequent loss of locally adapted genetic characteristics. These data support the implementation of conservation management of rainbow trout in the Alameda Creek drainage as part of the central California coastal steelhead ESU.

California↗