Assessment of population sex ratios allows managers to forecast recruitment dynamics and loss of genetic diversity in natural populations and is important when the focal population is in low abundance and subject to demographic stochasticity. If levels of natural or artificial selection differ for males and females and levels of mortality likewise vary, lower levels of population recruitment, loss of genetic diversity, and genetic drift can occur. Lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) are a species of conservation concern, where restoration efforts increasingly rely on hatchery supplementation. Raising larvae to the juvenile stage can increase survival during important early life stages; however, knowledge is lacking concerning effects of artificial rearing environments on differential sex-specific survival before release. We genetically determined the sex of 1459 age-0 lake sturgeon from three cohorts (2016 through 2018) using PCR assays of the ALLWSex2 acipenserid sexing marker. Sexed individuals represented three groups: (1) wild-captured dispersing larvae that died during hatchery rearing, (2) wild-captured dispersing larvae that survived hatchery rearing to release, and (3) wild-captured, wild-raised age-0 individuals. Sex ratios of wild-captured larvae (dead + live) were nearly 50:50 in all years surveyed. We observed slight, but non-significant, directionality in sex ratios in the live and dead hatchery-reared larvae and in wild-captured age-0 individuals. Genetic sexing methods allow for analyses during prolonged pre-reproductive periods and associated variable environmental and demographic circumstances, in situations where physical determination of sex is not possible.

人口性别比的评估使管理人员能够预测自然种群中的招聘动态和遗传多样性的丧失，并且当焦点种群数量较少且受人口统计随机性影响时，这一点很重要。如果男性和女性的自然或人工选择水平不同，死亡率水平也不同，则可能会出现较低水平的种群招募、遗传多样性丧失和遗传漂变。湖鲟 ( Acipenser fulvescens ) 是一种保护物种关注，恢复工作越来越依赖孵化场的补充。将幼虫饲养到幼年阶段可以提高重要早期生命阶段的存活率；然而，关于人工饲养环境对释放前不同性别的生存的影响缺乏相关知识。我们使用基因确定了来自三个队列（2016 年至 2018 年）的 1459 条 0 岁湖鲟的性别ALLWSex2 acipenserid 性别标记物的 PCR 测定。有性别的个体代表三组：（1）野生捕获的在孵化场饲养期间死亡的分散幼虫，（2）野生捕获的在孵化场饲养中幸存到释放的分散幼虫，以及（3）野生捕获的野生饲养的 0 岁个体. 在所调查的所有年份中，野生捕获的幼虫（死 + 活）的性别比接近 50:50。我们在活的和死的孵化场饲养的幼虫和野生捕获的 0 岁个体中观察到性别比的轻微但不显着的方向性。遗传性别鉴定方法允许在较长的生殖前时期以及相关的可变环境和人口统计情况下进行分析，在无法物理确定性别的情况下。