Characterising genetic diversity and effective population size in one reservoir and two riverine populations of the threatened Macquarie perch

Nine polymorphic microsatellite loci have been used to infer population genetic diversity and structure of the threatened Australian freshwater fish, Macquarie perch, across three tributaries of the Murrumbidgee River in southeastern Australia. This investigation has revealed a high level of divergence among all three populations, along with contrasting patterns of genetic diversity. The Cotter Reservoir, which is a stronghold population for the species, has typically higher diversity and effective population size than nearby riverine populations. This suggests that the reservoir population is unlikely to have undergone a genetic bottleneck during and following dam construction. Genetic diversity estimates were comparable with one riverine site but were significantly higher than a population sampled from the Queanbeyan River. This comparison revealed significantly less heterozygotes in the Queanbeyan River and lower estimates of effective population size. Options and considerations for stock replenishment of this population are discussed