Documenting genetic diversity of wild Eastern Oyster populations towards improving production

东牡蛎（Crassostrea virginica）是一种重要的商业和生态物种，其自然分布范围包括所有沿海省份。在魁北克和纽芬兰也有种植。尽管它们很重要，但我们对它们的种群遗传结构知之甚少。这些信息不仅对野生牡蛎的引进和转移管理至关重要，而且对孵化场种鱼计划的建立和管理也至关重要。L'Étang Ruisseau Bar Ltd （ERB）拥有并经营加拿大大西洋地区最大的贝类孵化场，将种子出口到所有大西洋省份。拟议的项目旨在完成一项基于前沿种群基因组学分析的彻底分析和出版，该分析允许量化野生牡蛎种群的关键特征，包括关键信息，如遗传分化的数量和程度，有效种群规模的估计，以及当地适应的证据。到目前为止，我们的研究结果表明，尽管有大量的抗病PEI亲鱼的康复转移，但在地方和区域尺度上存在高度显着的种群分化。这些结果代表了我们对加拿大东部牡蛎多样性的看法的深刻转变，并提出了关于牡蛎遗传多样性的起源和维护的问题，面对相当大的历史和当代干扰。拟议的项目将扩展正在进行的分析，以揭示这种多样性模式背后的驱动力。我们将为当前的种鱼收集活动和育种计划提出具体建议，并准备和提交我们的结果供发表。这将加强ERB的种鱼管理战略，提高其种子在水产养殖生产中的性能，为其选择育种计划提供信息，并最大限度地减少大规模转移对邻近野生种群的潜在遗传影响。

The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is a commercially and ecologically important species whose naturalrange includes all the Maritime Provinces. It is also cultivated in Quebec and Newfoundland. Despite theirimportance, we know very little about their population-genetic structure. This information is critical not only tothe management of wild oyster introductions and transfers, but also in the establishment and management ofhatchery broodstock programs. L'Étang Ruisseau Bar Ltd. (ERB) owns and operates Atlantic Canada's largestshellfish hatchery, exporting seed to all Atlantic provinces. The proposed project aims at finalising a thoroughanalysis and publication based on cutting-edge population-genomics analyses that allowed quantifying keyfeatures of wild oyster populations, including critical information such as the amount and extent of geneticdifferentiation, estimates of effective population size, and evidence for local adaptation. Our results to dateshowed that despite the massive rehabilitation transfers of disease-resistant PEI broodstock, there is highlysignificant population differentiation at local and regional scales. These results represent a profound shift in ourview of oyster diversity in Eastern Canada and raises questions about the origin and maintenance of oystergenetic diversity in the face of considerable historical and contemporary disturbance. The proposed project willextend ongoing analyses to uncover the driving forces behind this pattern of diversity. We will develop specificrecommendations for current broodstock collection activities and breeding program, as well as prepare andsubmit our results for publication. This will enhance ERB's broodstock management strategy, increasing theperformance of their seed in aquaculture production, inform their selective breeding program, and minimize thepotential genetic impacts of large-scale transfers on neighbouring wild populations.