Millions of non-native fishes (both species and genotypes) are regularly released into the wild in Europe, either intentionally by stocking or non-intentionally by escapes from aquaculture. Non-native fishes can become invasive and constitute a continuous threat to biodiversity. Salmonids are an iconic fish family of great socio-economic and cultural importance in Europe. They are widely distributed in both marine, coastal and freshwater ecosystems, and they continue to be cultured and released in large numbers into the wild. Often non-native genotypes are transferred across catchments creating a ongoing ecological and genetic burden on wild fish. Overall, salmonids constitute an excellent model system to study the causes and consequences of invasions using an integrated approach that combines ecological, evolutionary, fisheries biological and socio-economic approaches. Our SalmoInvade proposal combines expertise from five research institutions/countries to study salmonid fishes as potentially invasive species/genotypes, and understand the psychological, economic and governance conditions and pathways by which humans relate to these fishes. Our objectives are (1) to understand the invasion potential of non-native salmonids in nature, including genetically modified and non-native genotypes, and their ecological and genetic impacts, (2) to reveal the biological and social mechanisms of establishment, and (3) to understand how the public and stakeholders in various European cultures conceptualize and rationalize biological invasions and their own engagement in the spread of non-natives in light of their perceptions about complex concepts such as biodiversity and biological invasions. In order to achieve our aims, we have designed studies : 1.to evaluate current releases of non-native salmonids in Europe and the social, economic and ecological mechanisms underlying their invasion potential, 2. to investigate the ecological and evolutionary impacts of biological invasions by salmonids, 3.to evaluate how salmonid invasions are perceived by the public and by key stakeholders. Our project finally aims at providing well-informed, integrated recommendations for policy and management of salmonid invasions. The project will be organized in four work packages (WPs) addressing the main objectives of the proposal. Each WP is divided into several tasks, each addressing a specific sub-objective of the WP. SalmoInvade will be coordinated by Professor Jörgen Johnsson at the University of Gothenburg. Prof. Johnsson will also lead WP1. WP2 will be jointly led by Dr. Kjetil Hindar at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) and Dr. Julien Cucherousset at University Paul Sabatier/CNRS, and WP3 will be led by Professor Robert Arlinghaus at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) in Berlin, Germany. WP 4 will be coordinated by Jörgen Johnsson with contribution from all partners. Other project participants will take an active part in the project through their involvement in several WP and tasks. The strength of our proposal is the building of a strong interdisciplinary team that contributes complementary competences in genetics, ecological, human dimensions and environmental economics, revolving around the important model systems “salmonid species”. With our project we want to develop the foundation for sustainable development of salmonid fisheries in light of the societal desire to curtail their invasion potential.

The ongoing biodiversity crisis imperils Nature’s Contributions to People and is being exacerbated by climate change. Genetic diversity within species is key to maintaining adaptive potential and ecosystem resilience, and is one of the three pillars of biodiversity, but is widely ignored in both policy and management, due to knowledge and implementation gaps. In GINAMO, we follow a co-creation process to provide clear scientific guidelines and ready-to-use workflows to estimate genetic indicators that are understood and embraced by end users. Two indicators in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework are appropriate for monitoring and reporting on genetic diversity. These indicators relate a) to a minimum effective population size, Ne, of 500, with Ne being an essential biodiversity variable enabling the quantification of genetic diversity loss, and b) to maintain genetically distinct populations within species. In GINAMO we first will determine best practices to obtain accurate and robust Ne estimates for species with reference DNA-based data (WP2). Genetic data will help designing realistic evolutionary scenarios for simulations, to understand how spatial distributions, life history traits, data quantity and types, sampling strategies and statistical methods affect Ne estimates. For species without DNA-based data available, in WP3 and WP4 we will develop best practices to estimate Ne from proxies with publicly available data sources (e.g population size counts, occurrence data in observation portals, and relevant terrestrial habitat properties generated by earth observation data). A key component in GINAMO is to partner and co-decide from the outset with the stakeholder community for an optimal integration of all resources produced from WP2 to WP4 activities (i.e. databases, scripts, and guidelines) to meet their concerns, reporting duties and monitoring needs. Standardised and automated workflows will be co-created for assessing genetic indicators on various transboundary geographical scales, following FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) principles (WP5). The impact of the co-creation processes on participants’ knowledge, perceived usefulness of genetic indicators and willingness to implement, will be evaluated through interviews, focus groups and surveys (WP6). This co-creation process will strongly benefit from the multidisciplinary research team, including both natural and social scientists with expertise in policy and implementation. GINAMO effectively fits all three themes of the call as it will integrate various sources of available data in existing biodiversity databases (Theme 3) to address knowledge gaps (Theme 2) and provide outreach materials and Open Science tools for genetic indicators applicable in international (e.g. EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030) and national policies, to improve new biodiversity data collection and inform specific conservation management actions (Theme 1).