Patterns of habitat fragmentation and contaminant exposure in longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae)
Date
2015-01-08
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Abstract
Human-induced environmental change occurs rapidly and challenges the persistence of organisms. I studied patterns of contaminants and habitat fragmentation on longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae). I compared liver biotransformation and age-structured sex ratios at sites upstream and downstream of anthropogenic inputs. Downstream of anthropogenic inputs, female biases in the oldest age classes shift to female biases in all age classes relative to upstream sites. Liver biotransformation reflects an urban footprint. Together these results suggest that contaminants may adversely affect fish health. Dams and weirs are barriers to fish movement and can reduce connectivity and genetic diversity of populations. Results from population genetic analyses using microsatellite DNA markers show substantial gene flow and overall weak population genetic structure across Alberta. Consequently, fragmentation did not alter connectivity of dace in Alberta. Overall, longnose dace in Alberta have spatially and temporally variable sex ratios and exhibit weak population structure in association with human activities.
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Keywords
Ecology, Genetics
Citation
Tunna, H. (2015). Patterns of habitat fragmentation and contaminant exposure in longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27275