Eco-genomic analysis uncovers precision-conservation targets for the western Pacific's southernmost salmonid

Abstract

Understanding how isolated small populations persist and adapt in adverse environments is instrumental to evolutionary and conservation biology. We combine a chromosome-level genome assembly, population resequencing and forward-time simulations to reconstruct the history and viability of the Formosan landlocked salmon (Oncorhynchus formosanus), now restricted to a handful of high-mountain headwaters in Taiwan. We estimate that this lineage has diverged from Japanese masu salmon over one million years ago and has no detectable gene flow for [~]50,000 years. It has accumulated extensive chromosome fusions and expansions of cold-adaptation gene families, qualifying it as a new species rather than a subspecies of Japanese masu salmon. Whole-stream sampling reveals an overlooked Hehuan-Creek population that retains high heterozygosity and has gained unique alleles. Life-table simulations show that the Hehuan population has a notably lower extinction risk and can persist or even grow under low-to-moderate typhoon frequency, whereas Qijiawan-Creek population would decline precipitously under the same or higher frequency . These findings contradict the notion that peripheral populations are likely genetically depleted and support stream-specific "precision conservation" in place of broad, untargeted translocations that could erode local adaptation potential. Thus, our genomic-ecological analysis has uncovered hidden strong resilience in a critically endangered, climate-threatened salmonid lineage.