We explore the long-term developments in population biology and life history during the invasion and establishment of the fish species vendace Coregonus albula in a subarctic watercourse by comparing life-history traits and molecular genetic estimates between the source and the colonist population. The two populations exhibited highly contrasting lifehistory strategies. Relative to the source population, the colonist population was characterized by slower somatic growth rates, earlier sexual maturation at smaller individual size, higher mortality rates and a shorter life span. The two populations could also be significantly discriminated by the genetic markers.Limited founder effects were detected from heterozygote deficit and reduced allelic richness in the colonist population, but both populations were associated with relatively high genetic diversity. The study reveals that the invasion into a new environment induced large changes in life-history strategy, with typical r-selected traits being more prominent in the colonist than in the source population. We discuss the mechanisms that may explain the observed life-history differences between the source and the colonist population, and argue that the accelerated life history of the colonist population represents an adaptive pioneer strategy aimed at fast population increase during colonization and establishment.

No abstract

Species invasions can have wide-ranging biological and socio-economic effects and are generally unwanted by legislation. Identification of the source population as well as the ecology and genetics of both the invader population and the receiving community is of crucial importance. The rapid invasion of a small coregonid fish vendace (Coregonus albula) in a major northern European subarctic watercourse has resulted in a labile ecological situation in the receiving community. The ecological impact of the invasion has been thoroughly documented, but the genetics of the invasion remains to be explored. We analyzed the genetic diversity and divergence patterns among the two possible source populations from southern Finnish Lapland and three colonists populations within the Inari-Pasvik watercourse using ten microsatellite loci in order to (i) identify the most likely source of the invasion, (ii) reveal the dispersal pattern and genetic structure of the secondary expansion, and (iii) to investigate whether the initial introduction and the secondary expansion were associated with founder effects. We revealed that repeated translocation of vendace from Lake Sinettäjärvi into a tributary lake of L. Inari in 1964–1966 is the most plausible source for the invasion. Both the initial introduction and the secondary expansion were found not to be associated with significant founder effects. The secondary expansion followed a stepping stone pattern and the source and colonist populations of this expansion have undergone rapid genetic divergence within a period of 15–35 years (ca. 8–17 generations). The rapid divergence may be contributed to lack of gene flow among the source and colonist populations due to the extensive hydroelectric damming in the watercourse. Multiple introductions and substantial genetic variation in combination with the boom-and-bust population development of the species thus likely counteracted the founder effects as well as fueled the rapid establishment and expansion of this species within the Inari-Pasvik watercourse.

Ecological classifications according to the Water Framework Directive (WFD) are presented for a set of 32 large (surface area [75 km 2 ) Finnish lakes. We compared three different approaches: classification according to the strictest biological quality element (One-out, All-out approach, OoAo); numerical integration of biological quality elements (BQE) to determine median scores; and the national classification based on weight-of-evidence (WoE) framework. We also examined the sensitivity of eutrophication metrics to phosphorus concentrations.OoAo classification, the national WoE approach gave similar, downgraded or upgraded status classes. Downgrading was due to the higher weight given to water quality and eutrophication pressures. Upgrading was due to the lower weight given to a single macroinvertebrate metric with poorly represented data. In our opinion, the classification based on the WoE approach produces more realistic status estimates than the OoAo classification. Nevertheless, in practical lake management the evidence from the strictest classification metrics still needs to be thoroughly considered.

Lake Inari is a subarctic, oligotrophic, regulated lake in northern Finland, connected via the Paatsjoki (Pasvik) River to the Arctic Ocean. A new coregonid species, the vendace (Coregonus albula), was introduced into the watershed in the 1960s and gradually established a population in the lake becoming part of its ecosystem. The annual vendace catch in 1989 reached 300 tonnes, while during the following 25 years the vendace catches declined stabilizing at a very low level. Vendace introduction radically changed the fishing practices within a short time, and its population became firmly established in the lake. It benefited both fisheries and predatory fishes, especially salmonids. The vendace year-class strength varied greatly between 1983 and 2019. According to winter seine CPUE data, the strongest year-classes were up to 100 times greater than the weakest ones. Winter seine CPUE of one-year-old fish correlated positively with catches in the coming years. The growth data for the period 2015-2021 revealed a decrease in the youngest vendace age-groups.