MICROSATELLITE GENE DIVERSITY ANALYSIS IN ANADROMOUS ARCTIC CHAR, SALVELINUS-ALPINUS, FROM LABRADOR, CANADA

We analysed six loci among 257 Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) repres enting seven locations In Labrador and Newfoundland to provide a first assessment of microsatellites gene diversity in anadromous char and t o determine the geographic scale of population structuring within the species. The number of alleles per locus varied between 9 and 48, and gene diversity ranged from 0.190 to 0.968. Significant F-ST and differ ences in allele frequencies were observed among most samples, as well as heterozygous deficiency, which was indicative of a Wahlund's effect . These results implied the existence of genetically distinct populati ons on a microgeographic scale (less than 10 km) and that our samples represented an admixture of char from those populations that interchan ge among rivers for owerwintering, in congruence with tagging Investig ations. These results indicate that microsatellites potentially offer more sensitivity than allozymes and mitochondrial DNA to infer fine-sc ale population structure in anadromous arctic char.