Abstract for presentation at Biodiversity Extinction Crisis Conference - A Pacific Response

A population genetic study of one of Australia’s most invasive fish species, the common carp (Cyprinus carpio), in the Murray-Darling River System

  • Gwilym Haynes, University of Sydney, Australia
  • Dr Peter Grewe, CSIRO, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
  • Dr Dean Gilligan, Department of Primary Industries, Narrandera, NSW, Australia
  • Prof Frank Nicholas, University of Sydney, Australia

    • Introduced to Australia in the late nineteenth century, common carp have become a major freshwater pest. Thriving in disturbed habitats, they degrade waterways and compete with native fish for resources. Their mobile nature and fecundity has allowed them to colonise nearly all of the Murray-Darling river system, as well as many coastal rivers. Their broad tolerance to salinity and temperature gives them the potential to occupy possibly all permanent freshwater habitats in Australia.

    Genetic factors are likely to have played a key role in the success of common carp in Australia. Common carp were present in low densities in the Murray-Darling River System as early as the 1920s, but did not become highly invasive until the 1960s, when a new strain of carp was illegally introduced from Germany.

    This project explores the population genetics of common carp with the aim of making recommendations for control programs. Areas of interest include discerning the number of discrete genetic populations, estimating the migration rate between these population, working out the pattern of invasion within Australia, and identifying genetic factors, such as levels of genetic diversity and heterosis, that have allowed some populations to become highly invasive while other have remained localised. This information, when combined with demographic data and population modelling, will help form a valuable management tool for controlling this exotic pest.

    Conference Organiser - ICMS Pty Ltd