Analysis of many single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPS) identified using a genome reduction technique and next generation sequencing (NGS) can provide good quality cost effective estimates of a pair of individuals being a full sibling, half sibling, or a parent-offspring dyad in a sufficiently large group of conspecifics. If that set is temporally constrained to a set that cannot include parents or offspring, we can infer, with a high degree of certainty, full sibling or half sibling status. If this is combined with appropriate meta-data a novel and useful way of studying movement, population and mating strategies inter alia, becomes available.
In this study we calculate sibling status of 243 Murray Cod larvae from a 60 km reach of the upper Murrumbidgee River, from years 2011-2013, and use associated meta-data to infer details about mating strategy, dispersal, and the correlation of biogeochemical signatures in larval otolith cores with relatedness.