Does Genetic Variation Correlate with Adaptive Potential? an Empirical Test Using Translocations of Natural Trout Populations

In a world undergoing severe anthropogenically induced environmental change, determining characteristics that predict the capacity of fish populations to persist in novel environmental conditions represents an understudied, yet crucial, area of research for conservationists and fisheries management. In the absence of data measuring adaptation within a population's changing environment, controlled translocations to novel environments represent one means to assess the capacity of a population to tolerate novel change. We conducted replicated translocations to novel pond environments using 13 populations of brook trout to determine what population-level parameters best predicted performance in changing environmental regimes. Multiple population level traits were integrated in our analysis, including estimates of effective population size, standing levels of genetic variation measured by microsatellites and coding region single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), estimates of phenotypic plasticity, and the degree of environmental change as measured by the difference between a population’s native habitat and novel transplant environment. By identifying parameters that best predict vulnerability or resistance to environmental change our research will allow conservationists and fisheries managers to efficiently allocate scarce resources to fish populations most in need of protection.