Brachymystax lenok tsinlingensis (family Salmonidae), cold freshwater fish, is endemic to Asia. This species is currently distributed throughout Russia, Mongolia, China and the Korean Peninsula. B. lenok tsinlingensis in South Korea was severely affected by anthropogenic activities such as habitat destruction, agricultural run-off and water pollution, and hence this fish has recently been dramatically decreased in its population sizes and become now critically endangered. To recover the number of individuals of B. lenok tsinlingensis, stocking or translocation programs have been conducted continuously by local governments since 1970s. However, these programs made little effort to clarify populations that may have originated from stocked, translocated or introduced fish. An understanding of genetic characteristics of endangered populations is critical to develop effective conservation and restoration plans especially because genetic diversity ensues their future fate. Therefore, we assessed the “conservation status” of this species by estimating the level of genetic diversity and genetic structure among ten geographic populations including restored populations via reinforcement and supplementation. Also, we aimed to trace the genetic origins of the newly translocated population (Chiak) through a restoration practice program. Moreover, we inferred the phylogenetic relationships among Korean lenok populations as well as across the Northeast Asia. Two hundred eighteen individuals of B. lenok tsinlingensis were sampled from ten localities (Yanggu, Injae, Seorak, Bangtae and Hongcheon: North Han River basin; Pyeongchang, Chiak and Jeongseon: South Han River basin; Taebaek and Bonghwa: Nakdong River basin in South Korea). Based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region and eight nuclear microsatellite loci, we found extremely low levels of within-population genetic diversity, which suggests small effective population sizes (Ne) within populations. For mtDNA control region, each population housed one, or at most, two haplotypes that are restricted to the respective localities, meaning that these ‘genetically unique’ lineages will be lost permanently if the local populations undergo extinction. The overall values of haplotype diversity (h) and nucleotide diversity (π) for the entire Korean population were 0.703 ± 0.024 and 0.021 ± 0.010, respectively. In the case of microsatellites, average number of alleles across the eight loci for the entire population was 9.1 and allelic richness (AR) per population ranged from 2.375 to 4.144 (mean = 3.104). The values of observed heterozygosity (HO) and expected heterozygosity (HE) were similar to each other [HO: 0.400 ~ 0.590 (mean = 0.518); HE: 0.407 ~ 0.608 (mean = 0.504)]. The inbreeding coefficient (FIS) values were generally low, ranging from 0.048 to 0.279. Consequently, the majority of the populations (except Yanggu and Pyeongchang) were not significantly deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE), suggesting random mating at these loci tested. In addition, we found that Korean lenok populations were significantly genetically isolated from each other, with private mtDNA haplotypes and microsatellite alleles, indicating limited gene flow among populations, strong effects of genetic drift due to small Ne, or a combination of both. The Mantel test of microsatellites revealed a significant correlation (r = 0.414, P = 0.04) between genetic and geographic distances for pairwise comparisons among the ten populations, while that of mtDNA showed a lack of correlation. Given the shared identical mtDNA haplotype and similar microsatellite allelic distributions between Chiak and Hongcheon populations, we suggest that the restored (introduced) Chiak population would be inferred to be genetically originated from Hongcheon population. Phylogenetic relationships among Northeast Asian populations showed that South Korean lineages have more recently diverged from China (Yellow River), than between North Korea and Russia. Although the phylogenetic relationship would be expected to be associated with geography, South-North Korea and China populations with a similar latitude was more phylogenetically closely related. These findings may suggest a possible scenario for the historical movements of B. lenok tsinlingensis in Northeast Asia during Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). It would be supported by the line of evidence that most lenok populations migrated to southward from Northern Asia such as Russia and Mongolia during LGM because the Korean Peninsula was landlocked as inland epoch and functioned as a southern shelter with Yellow River. For this reason, the Korean Peninsula is suggested to be an important geographical region for better understanding phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary histories of B. lenok tsinlingensis across the Northeast Asia. Despite large efforts made to develop several restoration programs in South Korea for B. lenok tsinlingensis, it is still unknown whether these past restoration efforts were successful or fruitless, mainly because of little attention paid to post-restoration monitoring research. Hence, there was a lack of their published official records. In the future, conservation and restoration projects of the Korean lenok populations should consider the genetic data for a better understanding of their ecological and evolutionary trajectories. And finally, we hope that our findings here can help inform on the future effective conservation and restoration plans for B. lenok tsinlingensis populatio ns in South Korea.

본 연구는 강원도 고성군 배봉천의 어류군집 및 멸종 위기종의 서식현황을 파악하기 위하여 2011년 계절별로 조사를 실시하였다. 배봉천 상류(St. 1~3, 5)는 경사가 높 고 돌과 큰돌의 비율이 높은 Aa형의 하천형으로 14종의 어류가 서식하였고, 하류(St. 4, 6~7)는 경사가 낮고 자갈 과 돌, 모래의 비율이 높은 Bb형의 하천형으로 26종의 어 류가 서식하고 있었다. 전체 출현한 어종은 모두 10과 26 종이었고, 우점종은 버들개(Rhynchocypris steindachneri, 31.2%), 아우점종은 점몰개 (Squalidus multimaculatus, 13.3%)와 잔가시고기 (Pungitius kaibarae, 11.0%)였으며, 그 다음으로 참갈겨니 (Zacco koreanus, 7.8%)와 미꾸리 (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, 7.0%), 북방종개 (Iksookimia pacifica, 5.5%), 피라미(Z. platypus, 5.3%) 등의 순으 로 우세하게 출현하였다. 출현종 중 우리나라 고유종은 점몰개, 참갈겨니, 북방종개, 퉁가리(Liobagrus andersoni) 4종이었으며, 멸종위기어류는 칠성장어(Lethenteron japonica) 과 다묵장어(L. reissneri), 가시고기(Pungitius sinensis), 한둑중개 (Cottus hangiongensis) 4종이 서식하고 있 었다. 또한 소하성 어류는 연어(Oncorhynchus keta), 칠성 장어, 황어(Tribolodon hakonensis) 3종이, 양측회유성 어 류는 은어 (Plecoglossus altivelis)가 서식하고 있었다. 지 점들간의 군집유사도를 분석한 결과 상류부와 하류부로 나누어지는 경향을 보였으며, 하천에 설치된 보로 인해 단절이 심화되었다. 어류들의 안정된 서식과 이동을 위해 서는 설치된 보에 적절한 어도의 설치가 필요하다고 판 단된다.