Experimental evolutionary fish removal for lake restoration

Size-selective fisheries harvesting actively selects for larger than average-sized individuals. Size- selective harvesting of large-sized adults commonly induces life history changes in populations, such as evolution towards earlier maturation at a smaller body size (fisheries-induced evolution), which affects population regulation through increased rates of natural mortality and reproduction, and their influence on density dependence. In collaboration with fisheries researchers at Concordia University (Dylan Fraser) and at the University of Calgary (John Post, Sean Rogers), the genetic composition of replicate exotic brook trout populations is being manipulated through size-selective fisheries harvesting.

Our lab is working on ground-truthing the use of emerging environmental DNA tools for estimating the effects of evolution as a result of size-selective fisheries harvesting on fish population abundance, shifts in prey foraging, and food web community effects at the whole-lake ecosystem level.

For related projects, see Matthew Yates, Julien Beaulieu and Daphnée Trépanier-Leroux