Genetic Investigation of Four Beluga Sturgeon (Huso huso, L.) Broodstocks for its Reintroduction in the Po River Basin

Using Weighted Goal Programming Model to Achieve Genetic Gain in a Beluga Sturgeon Breeding Program

We estimated the desired genetic gains for important traits in Beluga sturgeon (Huso huso) using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and weighted goal programming (WGP). Two questionnaires were distributed to 122 private Beluga sturgeon farmers in Iran in two stages. The initial stage involved the first questionnaire, which aimed to gather information on the environmental and management aspects of the farms. Additionally, farmers were requested to rate 4 important traits from a list of 12 traits for genetic improvement in the Beluga breeding program. Based on the results, four traits, that is, ovarian fat lobe weight (OFW), total caviar weight (CW), body weight of broodstock (BW) and larval body area at hatching (LBA) were rated highest. In the second stage, the second questionnaire asked farmers to make six pairwise comparisons between the above traits to determine preferences of these traits. The analytical hierarchy process was used to estimate individual preference (Ind-P) values using Super Decisions software. The medians of the Ind-P values were OFW and CW (0.30), BW (0.27) and LBA (0.10). Social group preference (Soc-P) values were estimated for five categories, with 13 social groups using the WGP model in LINGO software. Most disagreements in Soc-P values were found between the commercial products and water temperature categories. Consensus preference values (Con-P) for the above two categories were obtained by the extended WGP model with the range of λ between 0 and 1 in LINGO software. The average best Con-P values were OFW = BW (0.29), LBA (0.21) and CW (0.19). Desired genetic gains (%) were calculated using the percentage genetic improvement (G%) multiplied by the mean of Con-P, yielding values of 2.09, 1.88, 1.44 and 0.62 for BW, CW, LBA and OFW, respectively. The most important achievements of this research are the determination of the economic traits importance and multi-traits selection in the Beluga breeding program.

Incorporating Industrial and Climatic Covariates into Analyses of Fish Health Indicators Measured in a Stream in Canada’s Oil Sands Region

Industrial and other human activities in Canada’s oil sands region (OSR) influence the environment. However, these impacts can be challenging to separate from natural stresses in flowing waters by comparing upstream reference sites to downstream exposure locations. For example, health indicators of lake chub (Couesius plumbeus) compared between locations in the Ells River (Upper and Lower) in 2013 to 2015 and 2018 demonstrated statistical differences. To further examine the potential sources of variation in fish, we also analyzed data at sites over time. When fish captured in 2018 were compared to pooled reference years (2013–2015), results indicated multiple differences in fish, but most of the differences disappeared when environmental covariates were included in the Elastic Net (EN) regularized regression models. However, when industrial covariates were included separately in the EN, the large differences in 2018 also disappeared, also suggesting the potential influence of these covariables on the health of fish. Further ENs incorporating both environmental and industrial covariates along with other variables which may describe industrial and natural influences, such as spring or summer precipitation and summer wind speeds and distance-based penalty factors, also support some of the suspected and potential mechanisms of impact. Further exploratory analyses simulating changes from zero and the mean (industrial) activity levels using the regression equations respectively suggest effects exceeding established critical effect sizes (CES) for fish measurements may already be present or effects may occur with small future changes in some industrial activities. Additional simulations also suggest that changing regional hydrological and thermal regimes in the future may also cause changes in fish measurements exceeding the CESs. The results of this study suggest the wide applicability of the approach for monitoring the health of fish in the OSR and beyond. The results also suggest follow-up work required to further evaluate the veracity of the suggested relationships identified in this analysis.

Monitoring and Management of Inland Waters

Inland waters are important ecosystems for both their biodiversity and the services they provide to humans [...]