Acronym FIE
Category
Fisheries
Title Fisheries induced evolution in Atlantic cod investigated by ancient and historic samples Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Nils Chr. Stenseth Coordinator email n.c.stenseth@ibv.uio.no
Coordinator institution
UiO-CEES - University of Oslo; Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (Norway)
Institutions involved
DFO - Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Canada) ,
IMR - Institute of Marine Research (Norway) ,
MRI - Marine Research Institute (Iceland) ,
UGOT - University of Gothenburg (Sweden) ,
Start year 2011 End year 2014 Funding (€) € NA Website https://www.mn.uio.no/cees/english/research/projects/143561/ Summary The fisheries on Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) can be considered archetypal, with a long history of exploitation and prolific examples of stock depletion and collapse. Concern about the sustainability of this and other fisheries has stimulated research to investigate the extent of human impact on marine ecosystems. One of these impacts, fisheries induced evolution (FIE) has long been suspected in driving long-term changes in phenotypic traits of heavily exploited fish stocks around the world. These changes are expected to be detrimental, for example by lowering growth-rate or age-at-maturation, and may lead to substantial economical damage or, even more dramatically, lead to the complete collapse of individual stocks. Direct empirical support for FIE, however, has been lacking and instead the evidence has been indirect, implicated through phenotypic trends observed in major commercial fisheries. One reason for this lack of evidence is the absence of advanced genomic tools specifically designed to target those species subjected to FIE. Here we will investigate direct evidence for FIE and assess its impact, by exploiting recent advances in genomics, in particular the completion of an annotated reference genome for cod. We will compare the genomes obtained from historic cod populations that have experienced distinctive selective scenarios, to those of their contemporary counterparts. The temporal characterization of genome-wide variation in these populations allows the statistical evaluation the selective potential of novel genomic regions and candidate genes. Using the availability of archived and archaeological material, we will further scrutinize a subset of most promising genomic regions. By evaluating these regions on a temporal scale, and associating changes in genomic variation with distinct selective scenarios over time, we will be able to further disentangle the impact of FIE and climate change in this important ecological and economical species.
Keywords
Exploitation;
Environmental impact;
Genomic sequencing;
Fish stocks;
Cod;
Genetic;
Fishing mortality;
Fish;
Marine Region
41
Norwegian Sea (27.IIa)
13
Northern North Sea (27.IVa)
14
Skagerrak, Kattegat (27.IIIa)
3
Marine Region Map
