Technical Report

Genetic Monitoring of the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow: Genetic Status of Wild and Captive Stocks in 2015

URL: https://webapps.usgs.gov/mrgescp/documents/Osborne%20et%20al_2015_Genetic%20Monitoring%20of%20RGSM%20Genetic%20Status%20of%20Wild%20and%20Captive%20Stocks%20in%202015.pdf

Date: 2015/11/30

Author(s): Osborne M.J., Pilger T.J., Turner T.F.

Publication: Prepared for U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, 34 p.

Abstract:

We have conducted genetic monitoring of the Middle Rio Grande population of Rio Grande silvery minnow annually from 1999-2012 and resumed monitoring 2014 and continued in 2015. This work included monitoring stocks that were bred or reared in captivity and were released to the Rio Grande in New Mexico since 2002; when the augmentation program commenced. In 2014, genetic monitoring was not conducted on wild silvery minnow (untagged) because extremely low densities resulted in insufficient samples for genetic analysis; however, monitoring was conducted in 2014 on the hatchery-released members of the Middle Rio Grande population (WCH, tagged), wild caught eggs (WCE), and progeny of captive stocks. Monitoring in 2015 was based on genotyping 143 wild silvery minnow collected in all three occupied reaches of the Middle Rio Grande, as well as wild-caught hatchery released fish (WCH, n=300), and progeny of captive stocks from Southwestern Native Aquatic Resources and Recovery Center (ARRC), the Los Lunas silvery minnow refugium, and the Albuquerque Biological Park.