Ecological causes of morphological evolution in the three‐spined stickleback

Ecology and Evolution

Rowena Spence¹  Robert J. Wootton⁴  Iain Barber³  Mirosᐪw Przybylski² 

[1] School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, UK;Department of Ecology and Vertebrate Zoology, University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland;Department of Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK;Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, UK

关键词: Adaptation;    calcium concentration;    Gasterosteus aculeatus;    natural selection;    nuptial coloration;    phenotypic adaptation;    selective predation;   

DOI  :  10.1002/ece3.581

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

The central assumption of evolutionary theory is that natural selection drives the adaptation of populations to local environmental conditions, resulting in the evolution of adaptive phenotypes. The three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) displays remarkable phenotypic variation, offering an unusually tractable model for understanding the ecological mechanisms underpinning adaptive evolutionary change. Using populations on North Uist, Scotland we investigated the role of predation pressure and calcium limitation on the adaptive evolution of stickleback morphology and behavior. Dissolved calcium was a significant predictor of plate and spine morph, while predator abundance was not. Stickleback latency to emerge from a refuge varied with morph, with populations with highly reduced plates and spines and high predation risk less bold. Our findings support strong directional selection in three-spined stickleback evolution, driven by multiple selective agents.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.