Do asymmetric sticklebacks make better fathers?

1996 ◽  
Vol 263 (1370) ◽  
pp. 535-539 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Control ◽  
Natural Population ◽  
Fluctuating Asymmetry ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Lateral Plate ◽  
Plate Number

Lateral plate number phenotypes in the low morph of the threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus , are under strong genetic control and display fluctuating asymmetry. Results of a survey of a natural population show the nests of asymmetric males were more likely to contain fry than nests of symmetric males. This suggests asymmetric males were more reproductively successful than symmetric males. There is little or no possibility that plate number symmetry can be directly assessed by either potential mates or rival males which compete for mates and attack clutches. Asymmetric males may be slightly larger than symmetric males.

Fast-start swimming performance and reduction in lateral plate number in threespine stickleback

2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
C A Bergstrom
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Swimming Performance ◽  
Maximum Velocity ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Predatory Fish ◽  
Lateral Plate ◽  
Maximum Acceleration ◽  
Plate Number ◽  
Fast Start

Threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) have colonized freshwater habitats in circumboreal coastal regions, resulting in populations with variable but generally reduced lateral plate numbers compared with marine ancestors. Several abiotic and ecological factors associated with variation in lateral plate number among freshwater populations of G. aculeatus have been found, including large-scale climatic effects, variation in water-flow rates and levels of dissolved calcium, and the presence or absence of predatory fish. In addition, it has been proposed that plate reduction might be an adaptation for evading predator pursuit that enhances fast-start performance. If this hypothesis is correct, one would predict that fast-start performance would improve as lateral plate numbers decrease. I tested this prediction by comparing fast-start performance among stickleback with different numbers of lateral plates within two freshwater populations. Fast-starts of individual stickleback were video-recorded at 60 Hz and maximum velocity, maximum acceleration, displacement, and body curvature were calculated for each fish. Lateral plate number was significantly negatively correlated with velocity and displacement but not with acceleration or curvature. These results suggest that reduction in lateral plate number has the potential to be advantageous in some predation regimes because of its association with enhanced fast-start performance.

Postglacial evolution in lateral plate morphs in Norwegian freshwater populations of the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (5) ◽  
pp. 898-906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Klepaker
Keyword(s):  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Morphological Variability ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Evolutionary Stage ◽  
Lateral Plate ◽  
Land Uplift ◽  
Founding Population ◽  
Freshwater Stickleback ◽  
Age Range

Norwegian freshwater stickleback populations were founded after the last glacial period, and the progressive uplift of the land has produced an age range (1000 – 13 000 years) of the stickleback habitats. Most of the freshwater populations of today have probably been formed by isolation of marine sticklebacks in the process of land uplift. The freshwater threespine stickleback is known for its great morphological variability. Three distinct morphs ("low," "partial," and "complete") are recognized on the basis of variation in the lateral row of plates. Among the Norwegian populations, all three morphs were found, but the low morph was by far the most common and occurred mostly in monomorphic populations. The presence of the complete and partial morphs was mostly restricted to young lakes near the sea. It is likely that the plate polymorphism in this region is a transitionary evolutionary stage from a founding population dominated by complete to a monomorphic low population. The hypothesis of a polytypic origin of the low morph is discussed, and an alternative hypothesis is proposed. Within each plate morph, the number of plates also varied, and populations with exceptionally low plate numbers were mostly confined to three different areas. Within these areas, populations with plateless specimens also occurred. These plateless specimens tended to inhabit old lakes. The low plate number and plateless populations were found in parts of Norway that were deglaciated early. The advanced plate reduction can therefore be a result of a longer period of isolation and freshwater evolution. Other populations may be on their way towards extreme plate reduction, but have not yet reached the level of platelessness.

scholarly journals Lateral plate number in low‐plated threespine stickleback: a study of plasticity and heritability

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 3154-3160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Truls H. Hansson ◽  
Barbara Fischer ◽  
Anna B. Mazzarella ◽  
Kjetil L. Voje ◽  
Leif Asbjørn Vøllestad
Keyword(s):  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Lateral Plate ◽  
Plate Number

Reproductive Isolation Among Lateral Plate Phenotypes (Low, Partial, Complete) of the Threespine Stickleback, Gasterosteus Aculeatus, From the White Sea Basin and the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia

Behaviour ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 132 (15-16) ◽  
pp. 1173-1181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valery V. Ziuganov
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
White Sea ◽  
Kamchatka Peninsula ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
The White Sea ◽  
Lateral Plate ◽  
Freshwater Pond ◽  
White Sea Basin

AbstractReproductive isolation was investigated among sympatric lateral plate morphs of threespine stickleback from the White Sea basin and also among phenotypically similar morphs from the distant Kamchatka River basin (Lake Azabachije). Female choice tests show that gene flow is restricted among the completely plated and low plated morphs at both locations; behavioural isolation between these morphs is complete among Lake Azabachije fish, and nearly so (93% positive assortative mating) among White Sea basin fish. However, the experiments also demonstrate that there are no barriers to reproduction among the Azabachije and White Sea complete morphs, among the Azabachije low and White Sea complete morphs, nor among the Azabachije complete and White Sea low morphs. In addition, there is no evidence of barriers to gene flow among the low and partially plated morphs. Therefore, although gene flow is restricted among the extreme morphs within each locality, nevertheless gene exchange is possible, either directly or secondarily, among all phenotypes. The reproductive isolation between the complete and low morphs from the White Sea basin developed in situ no more than eight generations after the sticklebacks were introduced into an isolated freshwater pond. Therefore behavioural isolation can evolve very rapidly among the lateral plate phenotypes of Gasterosteus aculeatus.

Heritability and "evolvability" of meristic characters in a natural population of Gasterosteus aculeatus

2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 532-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Hermida ◽  
C Fernández ◽  
R Amaro ◽  
E San Miguel
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variability ◽  
Fluctuating Asymmetry ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Phenotypic Variability ◽  
Alternative Measure ◽  
Paternal Effects ◽  
Meristic Characters ◽  
Lateral Plate ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Minimum Estimate

Phenotypic and genetic variabilities of nine meristic traits (in threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus) were calculated for 33 full-sib families raised under controlled laboratory conditions and for 33 pairs caught in nature. Heritabilities were measured using three methods: regression (across environments, laboratory–nature), full sib (laboratory), and minimum estimate (nature). Evolvabilities, as an alternative measure of genetic variability, were computed from the genetic coefficient of variation across environments, in the laboratory, and in nature. In general terms, phenotypic variability was smaller in laboratory-reared fish than in wild fish. Results applying both parameters (heritability and evolvability) suggest that in the natural environment, there is a relevant presence of additive genetic variability for lateral-plate number and, to a lesser extent, for lower gill rakers, as well as maternal effects on caudal and abdominal vertebrae and paternal effects on dorsal fin rays. Some of the meristic traits examined are bilateral. Heritabilities across environments and in the laboratory for fluctuating asymmetry values were calculated according to conventional methods and also employing method 2 of Falconer. Qualitatively, the results were almost the same using the two methods: most heritability values were around zero, even taking into account overall measures of fluctuating asymmetry.

scholarly journals FUNCTIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF FLUCTUATING ASYMMETRY AMONG ENDEMIC POPULATIONS OF GASTEROSTEUS ACULEATUS

Behaviour ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 137 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1097-1112 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Fluctuating Asymmetry ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Lateral Plate ◽  
Queen Charlotte Islands ◽  
Extreme Variation ◽  
Functional Implications ◽  
Measure Of Asymmetry ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Lateral Plates

AbstractFluctuating asymmetry (FA) has been used as a measure of developmental stability across many taxa, with asymmetric individuals presumed to have reduced fitness. FA has also been suggested for use in conservation biology as a measure of the health of populations. Here we assess the suitability of these uses of FA by using a novel measure of asymmetry in the bony lateral plates of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) from 60 insular and endemic freshwater populations from the Queen Charlotte Islands. The frequency of asymmetric G. aculeatus individuals among populations varied from 1% to 76% with a mean of 42%. Extreme variation in the frequency of asymmetries among lateral plate positions within samples was also observed. Plates important to the structural integrity of predator defences were least asymmetric, either due to selection against asymmetry at these positions or to variation in the temporal development of the plates. These results emphasize the need for caution when interpreting differential levels of FA among traits in individuals and populations, as the differences may be due to variation in the strength or direction of selection for symmetry, and not exclusively to differences in fitness.

A lateral plate dine, sexual dimorphism, and phenotypic variation in the black-spotted stickleback, Gasterosteus wheatlandi

1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 368-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Craig Sargent ◽  
Michael A. Bell ◽  
William H. Krueger ◽  
Jeffrey V. Baumgartner
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Geographical Variation ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Cape Cod ◽  
Lateral Plate ◽  
Plate Number ◽  
Coastal Marine ◽  
Lateral Plates

We examined samples of Gasterosteus wheatlandi collected in coastal marine waters from northern Maine to southern New York. Gasterosteus wheatlandi exhibited remarkable variation in lateral plate number, including phenotypes similar to the low, partial, and complete morphs described in Gasterosteus aculeatus. Partials and completes, however, seemed to represent a continuum, thus we could only recognize two discreet phenotypes, low and partial–complete. The low phenotype predominated strongly north of Cape Cod and was rare or absent south of it. Within both phenotypes mean plate number increased toward the southern end of the range; thus, both lateral plate number and lateral plate phenotype exhibited a pronounced step-cline. We found significant sexual dimorphism among localities for total lateral plates and for a suite of other morphological characters. Both sexes had higher mean vertebral counts north of Cape Cod, a trend which ran counter to the cline in lateral plates. The pervasive sexual dimorphism in G. wheatlandi, and the fact that latitudinal variation in lateral plates ran counter to the trend in G. aculeatus, suggest that different processes may be responsible for maintaining the geographical variation in these two species.

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