Title

Environmental rearing conditions produce forebrain differences in wild Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha

Author Info

R. L. Kihslinger, University of California - Davis
Sean C. Lema, University of California - DavisFollow
G. A. Nevitt, University of California - Davis

Recommended Citation

Postprint version. Published in Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, Volume 145, Issue 2, October 1, 2006, pages 145-151.

NOTE: At the time of publication, the author Sean C. Lema was not yet affiliated with Cal Poly.

The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2006.06.041.

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that hatchery-reared fish can have smaller brain-to-body size ratios than wild fish. It is unclear, however, whether these differences are due to artificial selection or instead reflect differences in rearing environment during development. Here we explore how rearing conditions influence the development of two forebrain structures, the olfactory bulb and the telencephalon, in juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) spawned from wild-caught adults. First, we compared the sizes of the olfactory bulb and telencephalon between salmon reared in a wild stream vs. a conventional hatchery. We next compared the sizes of forebrain structures between fish reared in an enriched NATURES hatchery and fish reared in a conventional hatchery. All fish were size-matched and from the same genetic cohort. We found that olfactory bulb and telencephalon volumes relative to body size were significantly larger in wild fish compared to hatchery-reared fish. However, we found no differences between fish reared in enriched and conventional hatchery treatments. Our results suggest that significant differences in the volume of the olfactory bulb and telencephalon between hatchery and wild-reared fish can occur within a single generation.

Disciplines

Biology

Copyright

2006 Elsevier.