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497 results for “Sticklebacks”
A distinct neurogenomic response to a tradeoff between social challenge and opportunity in male sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus)
<p>Animals frequently make adaptive decisions about what to prioritize when they are faced with multiple, conflicting demands at the same time. However, the proximate mechanisms of decision-making in the face of competing demands are not well understood. We explored this question using brain transcriptomics in a classic model system: threespined sticklebacks, where males face conflict between courtship and territorial defense. The outcome of decisions made by breeding males over whether to court mates or defend against territory intrusion are profoundly important to fitness. We characterized the behavior and brain gene expression profiles of males confronted by a tradeoff between courtship and territorial defense by comparing them to males not confronted by this tradeoff. When faced with the tradeoff, males behaviorally prioritized defense over courtship, and this decision was reflected in their brain gene expression profiles. A distinct set of genes and biological processes was recruited in the brain when males faced a tradeoff and these responses were largely non-overlapping across two brain regions. Combined, these results raise new questions about the interplay between the neural and molecular mechanisms involved in decision-making.</p>
Data and R script for: Shoaling behaviour in response to turbidity in three-spined sticklebacks
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Many fresh and coastal waters are becoming increasingly turbid because of human activities, which may disrupt the visually-mediated behaviours of aquatic organisms. Shoaling fish typically depend on vision to maintain collective behaviour, which has a range of benefits including protection from predators, enhanced foraging efficiency, and access to mates. Previous studies of the effects of turbidity on shoaling behaviour have focussed on changes to nearest neighbour distance and average group-level behaviours. Here, we investigated whether and how experimental shoals of three-spined sticklebacks (<em><span>Gasterosteus aculeatus</span></em>) in clear (<10 <span>Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU))</span> and turbid (~35 NTU<span>) </span>conditions differed in five local-level behaviours of individuals (nearest and furthest neighbour distance, heading difference with nearest neighbour, bearing angle to nearest neighbour, and swimming speed). These variables are important for the emergent group-level properties of shoaling behaviour. We found an indirect effect of turbidity on nearest-neighbour distances driven by a reduction in swimming speed, and a direct effect of turbidity which increased variability in furthest neighbour distances. In contrast, the alignment and relative position of individuals was not significantly altered in turbid compared to clear conditions. Overall, our results suggest that the shoals were usually robust to adverse effects of turbidity on collective behaviour, but group cohesion was occasionally lost during periods of instability.</span></p>
Data from: Inferring the evolution of reproductive isolation in a lineage of fossil threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus doryssus
<p>Darwin attributed the absence of species transitions in the fossil record to his hypothesis that speciation occurs within isolated habitat patches too geographically restricted to be captured by fossil sequences. Mayr's peripatric speciation model added that such speciation would be rapid, further explaining missing evidence of diversification. Indeed, Eldredge and Gould's original punctuated equilibrium model combined Darwin's conjecture, Mayr's model, and 124 years of unsuccessfully sampling the fossil record for transitions. Observing such divergence, however, could illustrate the tempo and mode of evolution during early speciation. Here, we investigate peripatric divergence in a Miocene stickleback fish, <em>Gasterosteus doryssus</em>. This lineage appeared and, over ~8,000 generations, evolved significant reduction of twelve of sixteen traits related to armor, swimming, and diet, relative to its ancestral population. This was greater morphological divergence than we observed between reproductively isolated, benthic-limnetic ecotypes of extant <em>Gasterosteus aculeatus</em>. Therefore, we infer that reproductive isolation was evolving. However, local extinction of low-armoured <em>G. doryssus</em> lineages shows how young isolate populations often disappear, supporting Darwin's explanation for missing evidence and revealing a mechanism behind morphological stasis. Exctinction may also account for limited sustained divergence within the stickleback species complex and help reconcile speciation rate variation observed across time scales.</p>
Cast Away in the Adriatic: Low Degree of Parallel Genetic Differentiation in Three-Spined Sticklebacks
<p>This repository incorporates data and scripts associated with the paper "Cast Away in the Adriatic: Low Degree of Parallel Genetic Divergence in Three-Spined Sticklebacks".</p> <p>Included in the repository are the following compressed folders: </p> <ul> <li>Moments_models&data.zip: two-population demographic models and SFS to run in <em>moments.</em></li> <li>Stairwayplot.zip: blueprint files for multiple mutation rates and results for StairwayPlots.</li> <li>TreeMix.zip: pipeline to infer population splits and mixture events from allele frequency data using TreeMix, including input files.</li> <li>VCF.zip: a filtered VCF file for all three-spined stickleback samples.</li> </ul> <p>The scripts for TreeMix and demographic analyses in <em>moments</em> are also available on <a href="https://github.com/carolindahms">GitHub</a>.</p>
Gene expression in male and female sticklebacks from populations with convergent and divergent throat coloration
<p class="MsoNormal">Understanding of genetic mechanisms underlying variation in sexual dichromatism remains limited, especially for carotenoid-based colors. We addressed this knowledge gap in a gene expression study with threespine stickleback. We compared male and female throat tissues across five populations, including two in which female red coloration has evolved convergently. We found that the expression of individual genes, gene ontologies, and coexpression networks associated with red female color within a population differed between California and British Columbia populations, suggesting differences in underlying mechanisms. Comparing females from each of these populations to females from populations dominated by dull females, we again found extensive expression differences. For each population, genes and networks associated with female red color showed the same patterns for males only inconsistently. The functional roles of genes showing correlated expression with female color are unclear within populations, whereas genes highlighted through inter-population comparisons include some previously suggested to function in carotenoid pathways. Among these, the most consistent patterns involved <em>TTC39B</em> (Tetratricopeptide Repeat Domain 39B), which is within a known red coloration QTL in stickleback and implicated in red coloration in other taxa.</p>
Data for the manuscript: Demographic basis of spatially structured fluctuations in a threespine stickleback metapopulation
<p>Uncovering the demographic basis of population fluctuations is a central goal of population biology. This is particularly challenging for spatially structured populations, which require disentangling synchrony in demographic rates from coupling via immigration. In this study, we fit a stage-structured metapopulation model to a 29-year times series of threespine stickleback abundance in the heterogeneous and productive Lake Myvatn, Iceland. The lake comprises two basins (North and South) connected by a channel through which the stickleback disperse. The model includes time-varying demographic rates, allowing us to assess the potential contributions of recruitment and survival, spatial coupling via immigration, and demographic transience to the population's large fluctuations in abundance. Our analyses indicate that recruitment was only modestly synchronized between the two basins, whereas survival probabilities of adults were more strongly synchronized, contributing to cyclic fluctuations in the lake-wide population size with a period of approximately six years. The analyses further show that the two basins are coupled through immigration, with the North Basin subsidizing the South Basin and playing a dominant role in driving the lake-wide dynamics. Our results show that cyclic fluctuations of a metapopulation can be explained in terms of the combined effects of synchronized demographic rates and spatial coupling.</p>
Data from: Designing eco-evolutionary experiments for restoration projects: Opportunities and constraints revealed during Stickleback introductions
<p>Eco-evolutionary experiments are typically conducted in semi-unnatural controlled settings, such as mesocosms; yet inferences about how evolution and ecology interact in the real world would surely benefit from experiments in natural uncontrolled settings. Opportunities for such experiments are rare but do arise in the context of restoration ecology – where different "types" of a given species can be introduced into different "replicate" locations. Designing such experiments requires wrestling with consequential questions. Q1. Which specific "types" of a focal species should be introduced to the restoration location? Q2. How many sources of each type should be used – and should they be mixed together? Q3. Which specific source populations should be used? Q4. Which type or population(s) should be introduced into which restoration sites? We recently grappled with these questions when designing an eco-evolutionary experiment with threespine stickleback (<em>Gasterosteus aculeatus</em>) introduced into nine small lakes and ponds on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska that required restoration. After considering the options at length, we decided to use benthic versus limnetic ecotypes (Q1) from a mixture of four source populations of each ecotype (Q2) selected based on trophic morphology (Q3), and introduced into restoration lakes in a paired design (Q4). We hope that the present paper outlining the alternatives and resulting choices will provide the rationales clear for future studies leveraging our experiment, while also proving useful for investigators considering similar experiments in the future.</p>
Collective behavior evolves independently of benthic-limnetic divergence in stickleback
<p>Comparing populations across replicate environments or habitat types can help us understand the role of ecology in evolutionary processes. If similar phenotypes are favored in similar environments, parallel evolution may occur. Collective behavior, including collective movement (e.g., schooling, flocking) and social networks, can play a key role in the adaptation by animals to different environments. However, studies exploring the parallelism of collective behavior are limited, with research traditionally focusing on morphological traits. Here, we asked if collective behavior has evolved in parallel across replicate populations of benthic and limnetic three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). There were repeatable, population-level differences in collective behavior in a common garden, with some populations forming groups that were more cohesive and with higher strength and clustering coefficients. This suggests that collective behavior can evolve. However, these differences were not predicted by ecotype (benthic vs. limnetic). We found no evidence that boldness or morphological traits – both of which are known to be associated with benthic-limnetic divergence – were correlated with collective behavior. Together, these results suggest that while collective behavior evolves in this system, it does not co-evolve with divergence along the benthic-limnetic axis.</p>
Stickleback sensory morphology 2015 & 2017 measurements and analysis files
<p>The peripheral sensory systems, whose morphological attributes help determine the acquisition of distinct types of information, provide a means to quantitatively compare multiple modalities of a species' sensory ecology. We used morphological metrics to characterize multiple sensory modalities—the visual, olfactory, and mechanosensory lateral line sensory systems—for <em>Gasterosteus aculeatus</em>, the three‐spined stickleback, to compare how sensory systems vary in animals that evolve in different ecological conditions. We hypothesized that the dimensions of sensory organs and correlations among sensory systems vary in populations adapted to marine and freshwater environments, and have diverged further among freshwater lake-dwelling populations. Our results showed that among environments, fish differed in which senses are relatively elaborated or reduced. When controlling for body length, littoral fish had larger eyes, more neuromasts, and smaller olfactory tissue area than pelagic or marine populations. We also found differences in the direction and magnitude of correlations among sensory systems for populations even within the same habitat type. Our data suggest that populations take different trajectories in how visual, olfactory, and lateral line systems respond to their environment. For the populations we studied, sensory modalities do not conform in a predictable way to the ecological categories we assigned.</p>
Social network differences and phenotypic divergence between stickleback ecotypes
<p><span></span></p> <p>Elucidating the mechanisms underlying differentiation between populations is essential to our understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes. While social network analysis has yielded numerous insights in behavioral ecology in recent years, it has rarely been applied to questions about population differentiation. Here, we use social network analysis to assess the potential role of social behavior in the recent divergence between two three-spined stickleback ecotypes, "whites" and "commons". These ecotypes differ significantly in their social behavior and mating systems as adults, but it is unknown when or how differences in social behavior develop. We found that as juveniles, the white ecotype was bolder and more active than the common ecotype. Furthermore, while there was no evidence for assortative shoaling preferences, the two ecotypes differed in social network structure. Specifically, groups of the white ecotype had a lower clustering coefficient than groups of the common ecotype, suggesting that groups of the white ecotype were characterized by the formation of smaller subgroups, or 'cliques'. Interestingly, ecotypic differences in clustering coefficient were not apparent in mixed groups composed of whites and commons. The formation of cliques could contribute to population divergence by restricting the social environment that individuals experience, potentially influencing future mating opportunities and preferences. These findings highlight the insights that social network analysis can offer into our understanding of population divergence and reproductive isolation.</p>
Evolution of static allometry and constraint on evolutionary allometry in a fossil stickleback
<p>Allometric scaling describes the relationship of trait size to body size within and among taxa. The slope of the population-level regression of trait size against body size (<em>i.e., </em>static allometry) is typically invariant among closely related populations and species. Such invariance is commonly interpreted to reflect a combination of developmental and selective constraints that delimit a phenotypic space into which evolution could proceed most easily. Thus, understanding how allometric relationships do eventually evolve is important to understanding phenotypic diversification. In a lineage of fossil Threespine Stickleback (<em>Gasterosteus doryssus</em>), we investigated the evolvability of static allometric slopes for nine traits (five armor, and four non-armor) that evolved significant trait differences across 10 samples over 8,500 years. The armor traits showed weak static allometric relationships and a mismatch between those slopes and observed evolution. This suggests that observed evolution in these traits was not constrained by relationships with body size, perhaps because prior, repeated adaptation to freshwater habitats by Threespine Stickleback had generated strong selection to break constraint. In contrast, for non-armor traits, we found stronger allometric relationships. Those allometric slopes did evolve on short time scales. However, those changes were small and fluctuating and the slopes remained strong predictors of the evolutionary trajectory of trait means over time (<em>i.e.,</em> evolutionary allometry), supporting the hypothesis of allometry as a constraint.</p>
Data from: Mesocosm experiment reveals scale-dependence of movement tendencies in sticklebacks
<p><span>Habitat fragmentation can have negative impacts on migratory organisms that rely on the functional connectivity between growing and breeding grounds. Quantifying the population-level phenotypic consequences of such fragmentation requires fine-scaled tracking of individual behaviour and movements across relevant scales. We here make use of a natural experiment where some populations of 'migrant' three-spined sticklebacks (<em>Gasterosteus aculeatus</em>) became 'residents', following habitat fragmentation five decades ago. To test whether residents have a lower movement tendency than migrants, we developed a novel experimental platform that allows the automated tracking of individual movements via RFID technology in a semi-natural mesocosm where spatio-temporal scales and environmental conditions can be manipulated. We found that residents moved significantly less than migrants at large but not at small spatial scale. This pattern was consistent across time and contexts (water flow and group size). Our study substantiates prior literature on rapid phenotypic divergence in sticklebacks in response to human-induced isolation and highlights the importance of observing behaviour in ecologically relevant setups that bridge the gap between lab and field studies.</span></p>
Scripts and sample information for: Molecular mechanisms of Eda-mediated adaptation to freshwater in threespine stickleback
<p><span>A main goal of evolutionary biology is to understand the genetic basis of adaptive evolution. Although the genes that underlie some adaptive phenotypes are now known, the molecular pathways and regulatory mechanisms mediating the phenotypic effects of those genes often remain a black box. Unveiling this black box is necessary to fully understand the genetic basis of adaptive phenotypes, and to understand why particular genes might be used during phenotypic evolution. Here, we investigated which genes and regulatory mechanisms are mediating the phenotypic effects of the <em>Eda</em> haplotype, a locus responsible for the loss of lateral plates and changes in the sensory lateral line of freshwater threespine stickleback (<em>Gasterosteus aculeatus</em>) populations. Using a combination of RNAseq and a cross design that isolated the Eda haplotype on a fixed genomic background, we found that the Eda haplotype affects both gene expression and alternative splicing of genes related to bone development, neuronal development and immunity. These include genes in conserved pathways, like the BMP, netrin and bradykinin signalling pathways, known to play a role in these biological processes. Furthermore, we found that differentially expressed and differentially spliced genes had different levels of connectivity and expression, suggesting that these factors might influence which regulatory mechanisms are used during phenotypic evolution. Taken together, these results provide a better understanding of the mechanisms mediating the effects of an important adaptive locus in stickleback and suggest that alternative splicing could be an important regulatory mechanism mediating adaptive phenotypes.</span></p>
Repeated parallel differentiation of social learning differences in benthic and limnetic threespine stickleback fish
<p>Individuals can reduce sampling costs and increase foraging efficiency by using information provided by others. One simple form of social information use is delayed local enhancement, or increased interest in a location because of the past presence of others. We tested for delayed local enhancement in two ecomorphs of stickleback fish, benthic and limnetic, from three different lakes with putative independent evolutionary origins. Two of these lakes have reproductively isolated ecomorphs ('species-pairs'), whereas in the third a previously intact species-pair recently collapsed into a hybrid swarm. Benthic fish in both intact species-pair lakes were more likely to exhibit delayed local enhancement despite being more solitary than limnetic fish. Their behaviour and morphology suggest their current perceived risk and past evolutionary pressure from predation did not drive this difference. In the hybrid swarm lake, we found a reversal in patterns of social information use, with limnetic-looking fish showing delayed local enhancement rather than benthic-looking fish. Together, our results strongly support parallel differentiation of social learning differences in recently evolved fish species, although hybridization can apparently erode and possibly even reverse these differences.</p>
Local adaptation and the evolution of genome architecture in threespine stickleback
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Theory predicts that local adaptation should favour the evolution of a concentrated genetic architecture, where the alleles driving adaptive divergence are tightly clustered on chromosomes. Adaptation to marine vs. freshwater environments in threespine stickleback has resulted in an architecture that seems consistent with this prediction: divergence among populations is mainly driven by a few genomic regions harbouring multiple quantitative trait loci (QTL) for environmentally adapted traits, as well as candidate genes with well-established phenotypic effects. One theory for the evolution of these "genomic islands" is that rearrangements remodel the genome to bring causal loci into tight proximity, but this has not been studied explicitly. We tested this theory using synteny analysis to identify micro- and macro-rearrangements in the stickleback genome and assess their potential involvement in the evolution of genomic islands. To identify rearrangements, we conducted a <em>de novo</em> assembly of the closely-related tubesnout (<em>Aulorhyncus flavidus</em>) genome and compared this to the genomes of threespine stickleback and two other closely related species. We found that small rearrangements, within-chromosome duplications, and Lineage-Specific Genes (LSGs) were enriched around genomic islands, and that all three chromosomes harbouring large genomic islands have experienced macro-rearrangements. We also found that duplicates and micro-rearrangements are 9.9x and 2.9x more likely to involve genes differentially expressed between marine and freshwater genotypes. While not conclusive, these results are consistent with the explanation that strong divergent selection on candidate genes drove the recruitment of rearrangements to yield clusters of locally adaptive loci.</span></p>
Local adaptation and the evolution of genome architecture in threespine stickleback
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Collective behavior diverges independently of the benthic-limnetic axis in stickleback
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Data from: An evolutionary loss of parental care in stickleback is associated with differences in the activity, but not the number, of neuropeptidergic neurons in the preoptic area
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Stickleback sensory morphology 2015 & 2017 measurements and analysis files
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Evolution of static allometry and constraint on evolutionary allometry in a fossil stickleback
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