Understanding Risks of Long-term Introgression From Salmon Aquaculture (SSA)

水产养殖被认为是满足不断增长的人口对动物蛋白日益增长的需求的关键解决方案。养鱼是一种相对较新的驯化形式，目前，我们正处于发展的早期阶段，有充分的机会提高生产力和可持续性。在水产养殖业中，鲑鱼养殖是一个关键角色，自1979年开始以来，生产力大幅增长。尽管鲑鱼养殖取得了巨大成功，但人们对鲑鱼养殖的可持续性和环境影响表示担忧。在这个博士项目中，您将研究农场和野生鲑鱼杂交的F1杂交种的繁殖潜力，生成农场鲑鱼逃逸的长期影响的关键数据。这些“杂交”鱼可能表现出降低的生殖性能，减轻对基因渗入的担忧，或者它们可能具有相似甚至上级的生殖性能。因此，博士将使用体外和体内生殖潜力测定法对农场x野生鲑鱼杂交种的长期生殖进行全面风险评估。该项目将在挪威和苏格兰的实地开展，进行受精实验，以测量野生，农场和杂交配子的适应性，并记录和分析成年鲑鱼的产卵行为和表现。

Aquaculture is identified as a key solution to satisfying increasing demands for animal protein from a growing human population. Farming fish is a relatively new form of domestication and, right now, we are at an early stage in its development, with ample opportunity to improve productivity and sustainability. Within aquaculture, salmon farming is a key player, with productivity surging since it started in 1979. Despite its great success, concerns exist about the sustainability and environmental impact of salmon farming. In this PhD project, you will research the reproductive potential of F1 hybrids between farm and wild salmon interbreeding, generating key data on long-term impacts of farm salmon escapes. These 'hybrid' fish could show reduced reproductive performance, allaying concerns about introgression, or they may have similar or even superior reproductive performance. The PhD will therefore conduct a full risk assessment of longer-term reproduction of farm x wild salmon hybrids, using both in vitro and in vivo assays of reproductive potential. The project will operate between UEA and collaborators at field sites in Norway and Scotland, conducting fertilisation experiments to measure the fitness of wild, farm and hybrid gametes, and recording and analysing spawning behaviour and performance of adult salmon.