Microsatellite Gene Diversity Analysis in Landlocked Arctic Char from Maine

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Abstract
Using six microsatellite loci, we characterized the 12 remaining populations of Arctic char Salvelinus alpinus naturally occurring in Maine. More specifically, we challenged the hypotheses based on previous analyses with other markers that (1) Arctic char from Floods Pond (known locally as silver char) represent a distinct evolutionary lineage and (2) all other Arctic char populations from Maine belong to the same evolutionary lineage and therefore do not require individual consideration for conservation. The high level of polymorphism observed at microsatellite loci in this study contrasted sharply with the extremely low levels of variation previously reported at other markers. Analyses confirmed that all lakes possess genetically distinct populations among which gene flow is restricted and on which other evolutionary forces may act independently, enhancing their genetic divergence. However, hierarchical gene diversity, population clustering, and population assignment analyses all indicated that...