Date of Award

2024

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Biological and Environmental Sciences (MSBES)

First Advisor

Marta Gomez-Chiarri

Second Advisor

Dina Proestou

Abstract

Increased production of eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) will be needed to meet consumer demand for seafood. To meet this demand for seafood in the face of disease and climate change, selective breeding has been proposed as a solution. This study evaluated the phenotypic traits of survival, growth, yield and disease acquisition of four wild eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) populations and two commercial lines from the Northeastern US at three grow-out sites in Rhode Island. We also investigated the genetic parameters of genetic difference between subpopulations (FST), inbreeding, percent of polymorphic loci, and heterozygosity in these populations. The GH population performed best at Ninigret, and the two commercial lines performed best at RWU. All populations performed poorly at Wickford. Differences in line performance among sites suggest an effect of genotype by environment interactions. With respect to genetic parameters, all populations had similarly low inbreeding coefficients (0.00 to 0.08) and moderate heterozygosity (0.29 to 0.31). Pairwise FST values varied (0.01 to 0.08), with the wild populations being more genetically similar to one another than to the commercial lines. Commercial lines were also different from each other. This analysis provides an example of how phenotype and genotype information could be analyzed to inform the selection of founders for a breeding program.

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Available for download on Friday, November 22, 2024

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