Data from: Historical and anthropogenic factors affecting the population genetic structure of Ontario’s inland lake populations of walleye (Sander vitreus)

Populations existing in formerly glaciated areas often display composite
historical and contemporary patterns of genetic structure. For Canadian
freshwater fishes, population genetic structure is largely reflective of
dispersal from glacial refugia and isolation within drainage basins across
a range of scales. Enhancement of sport fisheries via hatchery stocking
programs and other means has the potential to alter signatures of natural
evolutionary processes. Using 11 microsatellite loci genotyped from 2182
individuals, we analyzed the genetic structure of 46 inland lake walleye
(Sander vitreus) populations spanning five major drainage basins within
the province of Ontario, Canada. Population genetic analyses coupled with
genotype assignment allowed us to; 1) characterize broad and fine scale
genetic structure among Ontario walleye populations; and 2) determine if
the observed population divergence is primarily due to natural /
historical processes or recent anthropogenic events. The partitioning of
genetic variation revealed higher genetic divergence among lakes than
among drainage basins or proposed ancestries—indicative of relatively high
isolation among lakes, study-wide. Walleye genotypes were clustered into
three major groups, likely reflective of Missourian, Mississippian, and
Atlantic glacial refugial ancestry. Despite detectable genetic signatures
indicative of anthropogenic influences, province-wide spatial genetic
structure remains consistent with the hypothesis of dispersal from
distinct glacial refugia and subsequent isolation of lakes within primary
drainage basins. Our results provide a novel example of minimal impacts
from fishery enhancement to the broad-scale genetic structure of inland
fish populations.