Visualizing Genetic Diversity Across an Aquatic Ecosystem: A Case Study Using Lake Whitefish from Lake Huron

Understanding the interaction between physical and biotic variables is an important component of restoration management efforts, especially in a system such as the Great Lakes region that has been altered by numerous factors such as habitat alteration or overfishing.  Genetic data can be used to identify species or populations that may have been impacted or are at risk in an aquatic ecosystem, but it can sometimes be a challenge to relate genetic data to population, habitat, or environmental variables.  Both landscape genetics and GIS based approaches can be used to visualize and quantify genetic diversity and determine relationships between genetic stock boundaries, population dynamics (e.g. migration, abundance), and environmental variables.  We used genetic data for lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) from Lake Huron to investigate GIS-based approaches and landscape genetic analyses to determine their utility in understanding interactions between biological and environmental variables.