Lead institution:
Institute of Marine Research – Norway
Basic knowledge of the spatiotemporal occurrence of populations in marine ecosystems of species is essential for their management. While traditional population identification methods have often failed to resolve these issues, genomic methods have revealed clarity in the identification of marine populations, and the underlying mechanisms tunings their distributions.
A key player in ecosystems throughout the north-eastern Atlantic having a complex population structure is the commercially important and highly valued Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus). HERPOPS, based on the use of innovative genomic research, including wild populations with up to 100 years of data, will explore the processes influencing population structure in relation to climate change of herring. A recently established genomic method using population-diagnostic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers will be used to identify the population of origin for individual herring. By applying this genomic method over a large-scale area, both in space and time, this project will obtain completely new and in-depth information about the spatiotemporal distribution of herring populations. Furthermore, HERPOPS will apply environmental DNA (eDNA) analyses to identify small-scale dynamics of spring and autumn spawning herring on a local spawning ground. This will help to answer if spawning type switching is a prevalent trait affecting metapopulation dynamics. HERPOPS aims to take the advantage of the new knowledge to assess the abundance of different populations having
a dynamic mixing. Genomic results will be directly implemented by new novel research on assessment models and future management strategies to secure long-term sustainable exploitation while maintaining intraspecific biodiversity. The project outcomes will have a direct impact on the advisory process for several populations inhabiting the different ecosystems.
Start Date: 10/01/2023
End Date: 30/09/2027
Lead Contact: Florian Berg (florian.berg@hi.no)
challenges:
1- Marine pollution
3- Sustainable blue food
6- Community resilience
type_of_action:
Project