Migration is a ubiquitous life history trait with profound evolutionary and ecological consequences. Recent developments in telemetry and genomics, when combined, can bring significant insights on the migratory ecology of non-model organisms in the wild. Here, we used this integrative approach to document dispersal, gene flow and potential for local adaptation in anadromous Arctic Char from six rivers in the Canadian Arctic. Acoustic telemetry data from 124 tracked individuals indicated asymmetric dispersal, with a large proportion of fish (72%) tagged in three different rivers migrating up the same short river in the fall. Population genomics data from 6,136 SNP markers revealed weak, albeit significant, population differentiation (average pairwise FST = 0.011) and asymmetric dispersal was also revealed by population assignments. Approximate Bayesian Computation simulations suggested the presence of asymmetric gene flow, although in the opposite direction to that observed from the telemetry data, suggesting that dispersal does not necessarily lead to gene flow. These observations suggested that Arctic Char home to their natal river to spawn, but may overwinter in rivers with the shortest migratory route to minimize the costs of migration in non-breeding years. Genome scans and genetic-environment associations identified 90 outlier markers putatively under selection, 23 of which were in or near a gene. Of these, at least four were involved in muscle and cardiac function, consistent with the hypothesis that migratory harshness could drive local adaptation. Our study illustrates the power of integrating genomics and telemetry to study migrations in non-model organisms in logistically challenging environments such as the Arctic.

Abstract. The demersal fish and cephalopod communities of the continental shelves of the Bay of Biscay and the Celtic Sea have been monitored for more than 30 years by the EVHOE series of fisheries surveys. Since 1987, a total of 4247 stations have been sampled in the fall with a GOV bottom trawl in a depth range of 15 to 600 m. The main objective of these surveys is to monitor 22 benthic fish stocks and 10 cephalopods but also to provide a description of the distribution of a total of 250 fish and 50 commercial invertebrate taxa. The dataset (https://doi.org/10.17882/80041) provides abundance and biomass information by station for all observed taxa. Size distributions for a selection of species are also available. These data are part of a larger set of standardized European surveys that provide essential information for monitoring demersal communities in the Northeast Atlantic. We propose here a critical analysis of the dataset especially in terms of the evolution of the sampling effort and strategy as well as the taxonomic precision.