Genetic Stock Structure of Western Alaska Chum Salmon and a Comparison with Russian Far East Stocks

Abstract

Substantial genetic divergence was found among chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) populations collected from North America and Russia. Five major groups of populations can be identified by geographic region: (1) lower Yukon River summer run; (2) upper Yukon River fall run; (3) Bristol Bay area; (4) Alaska Peninsula; and (5) Russia. Mean heterozygosities were 0.064, 0.062, 0.065, 0.064, and 0.063, respectively; and the percent polymorphic loci values at the 0.99 level were 33.7, 31.3, 32.6, 30.6, and 30.9%, respectively. The hierarchical gene diversity analysis showed that 95.42% of the diversity can be explained by heterogeneity within sites, 1.36% among sites, 0.49% between Yukon River run timing, 1.69% among areas, and 1.04% among countries. The Alaska Peninsula populations are genetically more similar to populations from Russia than to those from western Alaska, and two populations from the upper Yukon River are distinct from other nearby populations. Possible reasons for these findings concern the complex glacial histories of the watersheds.