Salmon evolve quickly as a response to intense harvesting of their prey

Yann Czorlich

doi:10.25250/thescbr.brk680

Authors

Yann Czorlich Norwegian Institute for Nature Research https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3841-2700

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25250/thescbr.brk680

Keywords:

salmon, evolution, fishing

Abstract

To persist in the face of climate change and human activities, organisms may need to adapt. We showed that Atlantic salmon from River Teno (between Finland & Norway) evolved over the last 40 years to mature earlier. Our data suggest it was due to indirect and direct effects of fishing: harvesting of capelin to feed farmed animals, and size selective net fishing in the river.

Author Biography

Yann Czorlich, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research

Postdoctoral researcher

Original article reference

Czorlich, Y., Aykanat, T., Erkinaro, J., Orell, P., & Primmer, C. R. (2022). Rapid evolution in salmon life history induced by direct and indirect effects of fishing. Science, 376(6591), 420–423. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg5980