DOI: 10.5061/dryad.9cnp5hqhn
title: Still time for action: genetic conservation of imperiled South Canadian River fishes, Arkansas River Shiner (Notropis girardi), Peppered Chub (Macrhybopsis tetranema) and Plains Minnow (Hybognathus placitus)

description: Pelagic broadcast spawning cyprinids have declined throughout the North
 American Great Plains because of adverse habitat changes caused by river
 fragmentation and altered flow regimes. Despite losses elsewhere, a
 218-river kilometer section of the South Canadian River maintains three of
 these imperiled species: Arkansas River Shiner, Peppered Chub and Plains
 Minnow. The objective of this study was to determine if species occupying
 the same river stretch and hence a shared environment, exhibit the same
 trajectory of genetic change and relative abundance over contemporary
 timescales. Genetic evaluation of these species is an essential precursor
 to conservation efforts that may include translocations and establishment
 of captive populations. Across the time series, each species experienced
 substantial changes in abundance with Arkansas River Shiner consistently
 having the highest overall abundance. The abundance of Peppered Chub was
 uniformly lower but increased between 2012 and 2019, while Plains Minnow
 abundance declined from 2012 to 2019. Despite dramatic fluctuations in
 population size over the time series, data from microsatellites and
 mitochondrial DNA demonstrated that the South Canadian River harbors
 genetically diverse populations of each of these species. With the
 Southwestern United States entering another period of exceptional drought,
 immediate intervention is necessary to ensure persistence of
 range-restricted Arkansas River Shiner and Peppered Chub. Results of this
 study show that remnant populations provide a crucial resource for
 recovery efforts for these species.
description: A
 portion of mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4
 gene (ND4) (306 and 328 base pair fragments for
 Arkansas River Shiner and Plains Minnow respectively) was sequenced as
 described in Osborne et al. (2012).
 For Peppered
 Chub, we sequenced a 580-base pair fragment of NADH dehydrogenase subunit
 4L and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 using the following PCR primers
 (<i>ARGBL </i>and <i>NAP2</i>).
 All species were assayed for variation at
 nine variable microsatellite loci. Arkansas River
 Shiner<i>:</i> <i>Nme</i><em>208</em>,
 <i>Nme232</i>, (Gold et al. 2004), <i>Ppro126</i>,
 <i>Ppro132</i> (Bessert and Orti
 2003), <i>Ca6</i>, <i>Ca8, Ca12 (</i>Dimsoski et
 al. 2000) and <i>Lco3</i>, <i>Lco6</i> (Turner et
 al. 2004) Peppered
 Chub: <i>Ppro126</i>, <i>Ppro132 </i>(Bessert and
 Orti 2003), <i>Ca3</i>,
 Ca<em>6</em>, <i>Ca12</i>  <i>(</i>Dimsoski et al. 2000), <em>Nme93</em>, <em>Nme232</em> (Gold et al. 2004),  <i>Lco1, Lco3</i><i> </i>(Turner et al. 2004) Plains Minnow: <i>Ppro126</i>, <i>Ppro132 </i>(Bessert and Orti 2003),  <em>Nme</em><i><em>93</em>, </i><em>Nme232</em><i> </i>(Gold et al. 2004), <em>Ca6</em>, <em>Ca12</em><i> </i><i>(</i>Dimsoski et al. 2000), <i>Lco3, </i><i>Lco6, </i><i>Lco7</i><i> </i>(Turner et al. 2004) Samples were assayed on an ABI 3130 DNA sequencer and analyzed with Genemapper software (ABI).