Data from: Population genetics of the American eel (Anguilla rostrata): FST = 0 and NAO effects on demographic fluctuations of a panmictic species

We performed population genetic analyses on the American eel (Anguilla
rostrata) with three main objectives. First, we conducted the most
comprehensive analysis of neutral genetic population structure to date in
order to revisit the null hypothesis of panmixia in this species. Second,
we used this data to provide the first estimates of contemporary effective
population size (Ne) and to document temporal variation in effective
number of breeders (Nb) in American eel. Third, we tested for statistical
associations between temporal variation in the North Atlantic Oscillation
(NAO) index, the effective number of breeders and two indices of recruit
abundance. A total of 2142 eels from 32 sampling locations were genotyped
with 18 microsatellite loci. All measures of differentiation were
essentially zero, and no evidence for significant spatial or temporal
genetic differentiation was found. The panmixia hypothesis should thus be
accepted for this species. Nb estimates varied by a factor of 23 among 12
cohorts, from 473 to 10 999. The effective population size Ne was
estimated to be around 22 382. This study also showed that genetically
based demographic indices, namely Nb and allelic richness (Ar), can be
used as surrogates for the abundance of breeders and recruits, which were
both shown to be positively influenced by variation during high (positive)
NAO phases. Thus, long-term genetic monitoring of American glass eels at
several sites along the North American Atlantic coast would represent a
powerful and efficient complement to census monitoring to track
demographic fluctuations and better understand their causes.