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Does interspecific competition influence relationships between heterozygosity and fitness-related behaviors in juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)?

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Abstract

Very few studies have investigated the effect of genetic diversity on the behavioral and phenotypic traits linked to the competitive ability of individuals. In this study, we reared juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) alone or with the competitive rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in order to: (1) to assess correlations between heterozygosity and traits related to individual competitive ability [i.e., heterozygosity–fitness correlations (HFCs)] in Atlantic salmon, and (2) to evaluate the effect of the competitive rainbow trout on any such HFCs. We also tested whether a few loci had a disproportionately large effect (i.e., the local effect hypothesis) or, on the contrary, if all loci contributed equally (i.e., the global effect hypothesis) in explaining the observed HFCs. We found significant HFCs for phenotypic traits related to the competitive ability of juvenile Atlantic salmon, i.e., the growth rate and the distance to the feeding source. Some HFCs were nonlinear, suggesting that individuals with intermediate levels of heterozygosity were favored. In addition, we found that the competition exerted by rainbow trout only weakly modified these HFCs as the relationships were highly consistent across treatments. We demonstrated that the local-effect hypothesis best explained both linear and nonlinear HFCs. Overall, our results illustrated the importance of genetic diversity in explaining the behavioral variability observed within populations. Moreover, we provide evidence that, even if a competitive species can have strong ecological effects, the relationships between genetic diversity and fitness-related traits in juvenile Atlantic salmon were not influenced by such effects.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the LARSA team (Québec, Canada) for rearing fish. We thank V. Albert, G. Côté and L. Papillon for advices during genotyping. We sincerely thank M. Lieutenant-Gosselin, G. Loot, and anonymous referees for valuables comments on previous drafts. This research was financially supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada grant (strategic program) to J.J.D. and L.B. The experiments conducted comply with current Canadian laws (license N° 2004-140).

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  1. CIRSA and Québec-Océan, Département de biologie, Pavillon Vachon, Université Laval, Ste Foy, Québec, G1K 7P4, Canada

    S. Blanchet, L. Bernatchez & J. J. Dodson

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  1. S. Blanchet
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  2. L. Bernatchez
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  3. J. J. Dodson
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Correspondence to S. Blanchet or J. J. Dodson.

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Communicated by C. St. Mary

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Blanchet, S., Bernatchez, L. & Dodson, J.J. Does interspecific competition influence relationships between heterozygosity and fitness-related behaviors in juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)?. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 63, 605–615 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-008-0695-0

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