GENTOOLS

Fishing-induced evolution has become a global concern that threatens the productivity of fish stocks and normal aquatic ecosystem functioning. Releases of hatchery fish have been used to support overfished stocks but also hatchery rearing induces genetic effects that can have negative fitness effects on natural populations. Human-induced selection may be contradicted by natural selection at early life history stages of fish, but selection processes acting at egg, larval and juvenile stages have remained poorly studied. We will use experiments and genomics to study the early life history selection processes and develop genetic tools to quantify genetic changes and variation in the candidate markers in brown trout. The studies will be conducted jointly with the Natural Resources Institute Finland and international collaborators. Research on the early life history processes will help to define evolutionarily sustainable harvesting intensities and mitigate hatchery-induced evolution.

2022

2026