Authors: Julie Viana, Fabrice Teletchea, Céline Audet
Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (SPM) is a French archipelago located about 25 km south of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Despite its small size (242 km²), this archipelago hosts a rich biodiversity, among which brook charr Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill, 1814), one of the most important fish species for aquaculture and angling in North America. A total of 230 specimens were sampled in summer 2022 from ten hydrosystems located on the three main islands of the archipelago. Liver and gill samples were analyzed to determine, the regulatory pathways of growth and metabolism and the response to stress, and the osmotic response, apoptosis phenomena and the response to stress, respectively. Our aim is to identify potential fingerprints related to anthropogenic effects: Saint-Pierre where the human impacts on habitats are the strongest, Miquelon with only a single hydrosystem largely impacted by humans, but other habitats on the island mostly undisturbed, and Langlade with no permanent human settlings.
