from going extinct as these have lifetime dispersal distances of a few metres. I have three short-term objectives that will all compare Littorina species with and without a free-swimming larval stage: 1) To compare the minimum spatial scale of genetic adaptation to predators, 2) To compare the length of coastline occupied by a single population, and 3) To compare the amount of phenotypic plasticity in adaptive complex traits known to form clines. I plan to parameterize an extension of our individual-based quantitative genetic model which could also be useful for understanding the effect of dispersal on adaptive population differentiation in other systems. (funded by NSERC Discovery grants Ph.D. position available ).
Past Project 2: Integrating ecological research and hatchery operations for the restoration of the threatened northern abalone Haliotis kamtschatkana (M.Sc. graduates: Matt Lemay and Kaitlyn Read)
My laboratory's part in this research has been to improve outplanting strategies for rebuilding wild Northern abalone populations. Kaitlyn has evaluated the success of past outplanting efforts via non-lethal genetic identification of outplanted individuals in the wild using microsatellites protocols developed by Matt Lemay. Her genotyping suggests that past larval outplanting has been successful. Her work has also shown the importance of habitat-modification and predator control in facilitating the survival of outplanted hatchery-raised animals in the wild. By using a combination of laboratory and field techniques, we have gained important insights into the biology of this species. (past Funding: NSERC Strategic grant: PI: Dr. Louis Gosselin (Thompson Rivers University); co-investigators: Dr. Chris Harley (UBC) and myself for K. Read. Also past AQUANET (PI myself for Matt Lemay).
Aquaculture now produces all the Atlantic salmon consumed by Canadians and a significant amount for export. However, disease is a major constraint affecting the sustainability and profitability of this industry. Foremost is disease in marine farmed stock. Disease has a direct impact on farm income through inventory losses and an indirect impact by influencing consumer demand. Fortunately the rate of genetic improvement for functional traits such as disease resistance can be greatly improved by using a new method of animal breeding called genomic selection. This technique uses five thousand "SNP" genetic markers to determine which of the offspring produced by a disease-resistant family have inherited the disease-resistant alleles.. We are testing whether genomic selection can improve growth rate in saltwater, rapid adaptation to seawater, disease resistance and delay sexual maturity relative to a conventional breeding program currently used at Cooke Aquaculture Inc. in New Brunswick. We are accomplishing this within a three year period using archived fin-clip samples and estimated breeding values (EBVs) from current and past broodstock and their relatives, as well as the performance of their relatives in seawater farm cages. We will predict genetic changes in economically important traits that would accrue from the use of genomic selection, and compare this to current selection programs. Disease resistance is being determined by challenge of post smolts with the salmon louse and ISA by Dr. Brian Glebe's quarantine lab at Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s St. Andrews Biological Station. (Funding: NSERC Strategic grant: PI: myself, co-investigators: Dr. L.R Schaeffer and Dr. P.T. Schulte, collaborators Cooke Aquaculture and Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.).
· Seamone, B., Boulding, E.G. in press. Aggregation of the Northern Abalone, Haliotis kamtschatkana, with respect to sex and spawning condition. J Shellfish Res XXX:XX.
· Freamo, H., O'Reilly, P., Berg, P.R., Lien, S., Boulding, E.G. 2011. Identification of non-neutral single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that confirm genetic structure between inner and outer Bay of Fundy metapopulations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Mol Ecol Res 11 (Suppl. 1), 254-267 (Special Is