**ABSTRACT NOT FOR
CITATION WITHOUT AUTHOR PERMISSION. The title, authors, and abstract for
this completion report are provided below. For a copy
of the full completion report, please contact the author via e-mail at julie.turgeon@bio.ulaval.ca. Questions? Contact the GLFC via email at frp@glfc.org or via telephone at 734-669-3020.**
Ecology and evolution of Blackfin cisco populations in an outflow system of
proglacial Lake Algonquin
J. Turgeon2, M.S. Ridgway3
2Département
de biologie Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada G1V 0A6
3 Harkness Laboratory of Fisheries Research, Aquatic Research
and Monitoring Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry;
Trent University, Peterborough, ON K9L 0G2 Canada
February 2020
ABSTRACT:
Ciscoes resembling the nigripinnis form formerly found
in the Laurentian Great Lakes was captured in several
lakes of Algonquin Provincial Park, as well as Lake Memesagamesing.
For convenience, they are referred to as blackfin, rather than Blackfin
cisco. The morphology of blackfin is similar to that
of nigripinnis
from Lake Nipigon, yet they often possess more gill rakers.
These fish are predominantly benthic, with peak occupancy between 20-25m rather
than more profundal available depths in some lakes
such as L. Hogan and L. Cedar. The presence of Mysis
as a prey item in some lakes of APP is a key element. Cisco in the park afford
the opportunity to examine niche space expansion given differences in diel
migrators, habitat use and phenotypic diversity. Given that blackfin populations are
located in the Fossmill outlet, a temporary drainage
of proglacial Lake Algonquin, it was hypothesized that they could be a remnant
lineage of the Great Lakes nigripinnis. Neutral genomic data (ca. 6000 SNPs) on 600
fish from 14 lakes of this area indicates that it is not the case: blackfin diverged independently from cisco in several
lakes. Across lakes, there was a continuum of ecological,
morphological and genetic differentiation that could be associated with
alternative resources and lake characteristics. Unexpectedly, all fish from this area belonged to the
Atlantic refugial lineage, with no trace of admixture
with the western lineage now characterizing ciscoes from the Upper Great Lakes.
Review of published genetic data and new data in critical areas near the GL
suggest that the Atlantic lineage reached the GL before any other lineages. The
western lineage may have dispersed from the Missourian refuge instead of the
Mississippian refuge. Hence the colonization of APP
could have been by the Atlantic lineage arriving from the GL area at a time
when it was the only lineage present in Lake Algonquin.