Inferring the genomic basis of local adaptation is a long-standing goal of evolutionary biology. Beyond its fundamental evolutionary implications, such knowledge can guide conservation decisions for populations of conservation and management concern. Here, we investigated the genomic basis of local adaptation in the Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) across its entire North American range. We hypothesized that extensive spatial variation in environmental conditions and the species' homing behaviour may promote the establishment of local adaptation. We genotyped 7829 individuals representing 217 sampling locations at more than 100,000 high-quality RADseq loci to investigate how recombination might affect the detection of loci putatively under selection and took advantage of the precise description of the demographic history of the species from our previous work to draw accurate population genomic inferences about local adaptation. The results indicated that genetic differentiation scans and genetic-environment association analyses were both significantly affected by variation in recombination rate as low recombination regions displayed an increased number of outliers. By taking these confounding factors into consideration, we revealed that migration distance was the primary selective factor driving local adaptation and partial parallel divergence among distant populations. Moreover, we identified several candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with longdistance migration and altitude including a gene known to be involved in adaptation to altitude in other species. The evolutionary implications of our findings are discussed along with conservation applications.

Inferring the genomic basis of local adaptation is a long-standing goal of evolutionary biology. Beyond its fundamental evolutionary implications, such knowledge can guide conservation decisions for populations of conservation and management concern. Here, we investigated the genomic basis of local adaptation in the Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) across its entire North American range. We hypothesized that extensive spatial variation in environmental conditions and the species homing behavior may promote the establishment of local adaptation. We genotyped 7,829 individuals representing 217 sampling locations at more than 100,000 high-quality RADseq loci to investigate how recombination might affect the detection of loci putatively under selection and took advantage of the precise description of the demographic history of the species from our previous work to draw accurate population genomic inferences about local adaptation. Results indicated that genetic differentiation scans and genetic-environment association analyses were both significantly affected by variation in recombination rate as low recombination regions displayed an increased number of outliers. By taking these confounding factors into consideration, we revealed that migration distance was the primary selective factor driving local adaptation and partial parallel divergence among distant populations. Moreover, we identified several candidates SNP associated with long distance migration and altitude including a gene known to be involved in adaptation to altitude in other species. The evolutionary implications of our findings are discussed along with conservation applications.

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Conservation units (CUs) are important tools for supporting the implementation of standardized management practices for exploited species. Following the adoption of the Wild Salmon Policy in Canada, CUs were defined for Pacific salmon based on characteristics related to ecotype, life history and genetic variation using microsatellite markers as indirect measures of local adaptation. Genomic data sets have the potential to improve the definition of CUs by reducing variance around estimates of population genetic parameters, thereby increasing the power to detect more subtle patterns of population genetic structure and by providing an opportunity to incorporate adaptive information more directly with the identification of variants putatively under selection. We used one of the largest genomic data sets recently published for a nonmodel species, comprising 5662 individual Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) from 149 sampling locations and a total of 24,542 high‐quality SNPs obtained using genotyping‐by‐sequencing and mapped to the Coho salmon reference genome to (1) evaluate the current delineation of CUs for Coho in Canada and (2) compare patterns of population structure observed using neutral and outlier loci from genotype–environment association analyses to determine whether separate CUs that capture adaptive diversity are needed. Our results reflected CU boundaries on the whole, with the majority of sampling locations managed in the same CU clustering together within genetic groups. However, additional groups that are not currently represented by CUs were also uncovered. We observed considerable overlap in the genetic clusters identified using neutral or candidate loci, indicating a general congruence in patterns of genetic variation driven by local adaptation and gene flow in this species. Consequently, we suggest that the current CU boundaries for Coho salmon are largely well‐suited for meeting the Canadian Wild Salmon Policy's objective of defining biologically distinct groups, but we highlight specific areas where CU boundaries may be refined.