Waterscape genetics of the yellow perch (Perca flavescens): patterns across large connected ecosystems and isolated relict populations

Comparisons of a species’ genetic diversity and divergence patterns across large connected populations versus isolated relict areas provide important data for understanding potential response to global warming, habitat alterations, and other perturbations. Aquatic taxa offer ideal case studies for interpreting these patterns, because their dispersal and gene flow often are constrained through narrow connectivity channels that have changed over geological time and/or from contemporary anthropogenic perturbations. Our research objective is to better understand the interplay between historic influences and modern-day factors (fishery exploitation, stocking supplementation, and habitat loss) in shaping population genetic patterns of the yellow perch Perca flavescens (Percidae: Teleostei) across its native North American range. We employ a modified landscape genetics approach, analyzing sequences from the entire mitochondrial DNA control region (912 base pairs) and 15 nuclear DNA microsatell...