Parallel evolution in Ugandan crater lakes: repeated evolution of limnetic body shapes in haplochromine cichlid fish

AbstractRecent increases in understanding the ecological and evolutionary roles of microbial communities has underscored their importance for their hosts’ biology. Yet, little is known about gut microbiota dynamics during early stages of ecological diversification and speciation. We studied the gut microbiota of extremely young adaptive radiations of Nicaraguan crater lake cichlid fish (Amphilophus cf. citrinellus) to test the hypothesis that parallel evolution in trophic ecology is associated with parallel changes of the gut microbiota. Bacterial communities of the water (eDNA) and guts were highly distinct, indicating that the gut microbiota is shaped by host-specific factors. Across individuals of the same crater lake, differentiation in trophic ecology was associated with gut microbiota differentiation, suggesting that diet affects the gut microbiota. However, differences in trophic ecology were much more pronounced across than within species whereas little evidence was found for similar patterns in taxonomic and functional changes of the gut microbiota. Across the two crater lakes, we could not detect evidence for parallel changes of the gut microbiota associated with trophic ecology. Similar cases of non-parallelism have been observed in other recently diverged fish species and might be explained by a lack of clearly differentiated niches during early stages of ecological diversification.

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Local variation and parallel evolution: morphological and genetic diversity across a species complex of neotropical crater lake cichlid fishes

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2009.0271 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 365 (1547) ◽

pp. 1763-1782 ◽

Cited By ~ 108

Author(s):

Kathryn R. Elmer ◽

Henrik Kusche ◽

Topi K. Lehtonen ◽

Axel Meyer

Keyword(s):

Genetic Diversity ◽

Species Complex ◽

Body Shape ◽

Crater Lake ◽

Shape Change ◽

Parallel Evolution ◽

Cichlid Fish ◽

Shape Variation ◽

Body Depth ◽

Crater Lakes

The polychromatic and trophically polymorphic Midas cichlid fish species complex ( Amphilophus cf. citrinellus ) is an excellent model system for studying the mechanisms of speciation and patterns of phenotypic diversification in allopatry and in sympatry. Here, we first review research to date on the species complex and the geological history of its habitat. We analyse body shape variation from all currently described species in the complex, sampled from six crater lakes (maximally 1.2–23.9 kyr old) and both great lakes in Nicaragua. We find that Midas cichlid populations in each lake have their own characteristic body shape. In lakes with multiple sympatric species of Midas cichlid, each species has a distinct body shape. Across the species complex, most body shape change relates to body depth, head, snout and mouth shape and caudal peduncle length. There is independent parallel evolution of an elongate limnetic species in at least two crater lakes. Mitochondrial genetic diversity is higher in crater lakes with multiple species. Midas cichlid species richness increases with the size and age of the crater lakes, though no such relationship exists for the other syntopic fishes. We suggest that crater lake Midas cichlids follow the predicted pattern of an adaptive radiation, with early divergence of each crater lake colonization, followed by intralacustrine diversification and speciation by ecological adaptation and sexual selection.

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Parallel evolution and ecological selection: replicated character displacement in spadefoot toads

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2009.1337 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 276 (1676) ◽

pp. 4189-4196 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Amber M. Rice ◽

Aaron R. Leichty ◽

David W. Pfennig

Keyword(s):

Resource Competition ◽

Parallel Evolution ◽

Character Displacement ◽

Population History ◽

Ancestral Population ◽

Sympatric Populations ◽

Trait Evolution ◽

Ecological Selection ◽

Spadefoot Toads ◽

Repeated Evolution

Ecological character displacement—trait evolution stemming from selection to lessen resource competition between species—is most often inferred from a pattern in which species differ in resource-use traits in sympatry but not in allopatry, and in which sympatric populations within each species differ from conspecific allopatric populations. Yet, without information on population history, the presence of a divergent phenotype in multiple sympatric populations does not necessarily imply that there has been repeated evolution of character displacement. Instead, such a pattern may arise if there has been character displacement in a single ancestral population, followed by gene flow carrying the divergent phenotype into multiple, derived, sympatric populations. Here, we evaluate the likelihood of such historical events versus ongoing ecological selection in generating divergence in trophic morphology between multiple populations of spadefoot toad ( Spea multiplicata ) tadpoles that are in sympatry with a heterospecific and those that are in allopatry. We present both phylogenetic and population genetic evidence indicating that the same divergent trait, which minimizes resource competition with the heterospecific, has arisen independently in multiple sympatric populations. These data, therefore, provide strong indirect support for competition's role in divergent trait evolution.

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Morphometric differentiation among haplochromine cichlid fish species of a satellite lake of Lake Victoria

Journal of Zoological Systematics & Evolutionary Research ◽

10.1111/j.1439-0469.2011.00624.x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 49 (3) ◽

pp. 216-223 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Elizabeth A. Odhiambo ◽

Michaela Kerschbaumer ◽

Lisbeth Postl ◽

Christian Sturmbauer

Keyword(s):

Fish Species ◽

Lake Victoria ◽

Cichlid Fish ◽

Haplochromine Cichlid ◽

Morphometric Differentiation

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Incipient sympatric speciation in Midas cichlid fish from the youngest and one of the smallest crater lakes in Nicaragua due to differential use of the benthic and limnetic habitats?

Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.1002/ece3.2287 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (15) ◽

pp. 5342-5357 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Andreas F. Kautt ◽

Gonzalo Machado‐Schiaffino ◽

Julian Torres‐Dowdall ◽

Axel Meyer

Keyword(s):

Cichlid Fish ◽

Sympatric Speciation ◽

Crater Lakes

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Depth-dependent abundance of Midas Cichlid fish (Amphilophus spp.) in two Nicaraguan crater lakes

Hydrobiologia ◽

10.1007/s10750-012-1024-1 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 686 (1) ◽

pp. 277-285 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Marie Theres Dittmann ◽

Marius Roesti ◽

Adrian Indermaur ◽

Marco Colombo ◽

Martin Gschwind ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cichlid Fish ◽

Crater Lakes

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Parallel and non-parallel changes of the gut microbiota during trophic diversification in repeated young adaptive radiations of sympatric cichlid fish

10.21203/rs.3.rs-20414/v3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Andreas Härer ◽

Julián Torres-Dowdall ◽

Sina J. Rometsch ◽

Elizabeth Yohannes ◽

Gonzalo Machado-Schiaffino ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gut Microbiota ◽

Microbial Communities ◽

Trophic Ecology ◽

Cichlid Fish ◽

Conclusive Evidence ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Crater Lakes ◽

Ecological Diversification ◽

Early Stages ◽

Adaptive Radiations

Abstract Background: Recent increases in understanding the ecological and evolutionary roles of microbial communities has underscored the importance for their hosts’ biology. Yet, little is known about gut microbiota dynamics during early stages of ecological diversification and speciation. We sequenced the V4 region of the 16s rRNA gene to study the gut microbiota of Nicaraguan Midas cichlid fish (Amphilophus cf. citrinellus). Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that parallel divergence in trophic ecology in extremely young adaptive radiations from two crater lakes is associated with parallel changes of their gut microbiota. Results: Bacterial communities of fish guts and lake water were highly distinct, indicating that the gut microbiota is shaped by host-specific factors. Among individuals of the same crater lake, differentiation in trophic ecology was weakly associated with gut microbiota differentiation, suggesting that diet, to some extent, affects the gut microbiota. However, differences in trophic ecology were much more pronounced across than within species whereas similar patterns were not observed for taxonomic and functional differences of the gut microbiota. Across the two crater lakes, we could not detect conclusive evidence for parallel changes of the gut microbiota associated with trophic ecology. Conclusions: A lack of clearly differentiated niches during early stages of ecological diversification might result in non-parallel changes of gut microbial communities, as observed in our study system as well as in other recently diverged fish species.

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Diversification dynamics and (non-)parallel evolution along an ecological gradient in African cichlid fishes

10.1101/2021.01.12.426414 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

A. A.-T. Weber ◽

J. Rajkov ◽

K. Smailus ◽

B. Egger ◽

W. Salzburger

Keyword(s):

Evolutionary Biology ◽

Parallel Evolution ◽

Cichlid Fish ◽

Morphological Differentiation ◽

Grey Zone ◽

Ecological Gradient ◽

Cichlid Species ◽

Morphometric Analyses ◽

Astatotilapia Burtoni ◽

Parallel Axis

AbstractUnderstanding the drivers and dynamics of diversification is a central topic in evolutionary biology. Here, we investigated the dynamics of diversification in the cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni that diverged along a lake-stream environmental gradient. Whole-genome and morphometric analyses revealed that divergent selection was essential at the early stages of diversification, but that periods in allopatry were likely involved towards the completion of speciation. While morphological differentiation was continuous, genomic differentiation was not, as shown by two clearly separated categories of genomic differentiation. Reproductive isolation increased along a continuum of genomic divergence, with a “grey zone” of speciation at ~0.1% net nucleotide divergence. The quantification of the extent of (non-)parallelism in nine lake-stream population pairs from four cichlid species by means of multivariate analyses revealed one parallel axis of genomic and morphological differentiation among seven lake-stream systems. Finally, we found that parallelism was higher when ancestral lake populations were more similar.

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Parallel and non-parallel changes of the gut microbiota during trophic diversification in repeated young adaptive radiations of sympatric cichlid fish

10.21203/rs.3.rs-20414/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Andreas Härer ◽

Julián Torres-Dowdall ◽

Sina J. Rometsch ◽

Elizabeth Yohannes ◽

Gonzalo Machado-Schiaffino ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gut Microbiota ◽

Microbial Communities ◽

Trophic Ecology ◽

Cichlid Fish ◽

Conclusive Evidence ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Crater Lakes ◽

Ecological Diversification ◽

Early Stages ◽

Adaptive Radiations

Abstract Background: Recent increases in understanding the ecological and evolutionary roles of microbial communities has underscored the importance for their hosts’ biology. Yet, little is known about gut microbiota dynamics during early stages of ecological diversification and speciation. We sequenced the V4 region of the 16s rRNA gene to study the gut microbiota of Nicaraguan Midas cichlid fish ( Amphilophus cf. citrinellus ). Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that parallel divergence in trophic ecology in extremely young adaptive radiations from two crater lakes is associated with parallel changes of their gut microbiota.Results: Bacterial communities of fish guts and lake water were highly distinct, indicating that the gut microbiota is shaped by host-specific factors. Among individuals of the same crater lake, differentiation in trophic ecology was weakly associated with gut microbiota differentiation, suggesting that diet, to some extent, affects the gut microbiota. However, differences in trophic ecology were much more pronounced across than within species whereas similar patterns were not observed for taxonomic and functional differences of the gut microbiota. Across the two crater lakes, we could not detect conclusive evidence for parallel changes of the gut microbiota associated with trophic ecology.Conclusions: A lack of clearly differentiated niches during early stages of ecological diversification might result in non-parallel changes of gut microbial communities, as observed in our study system as well as in other recently diverged fish species.

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A new species of Diplotaxodon (Cichliformes: Cichlidae) from Lake Malaŵi

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.4903.2.7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4903 (2) ◽

pp. 275-284

Author(s):

JAY R JR. STAUFFER ◽

ADRIANUS F. KONINGS

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Principal Components Analysis ◽

Principal Components ◽

Cichlid Fish ◽

Lake Malawi ◽

Type Specimens ◽

Snout Length ◽

Haplochromine Cichlid ◽

Components Analysis ◽

A New Species

A species of haplochromine cichlid fish of the genus Diplotaxodon Trewavas, endemic to Lake Malaŵi is described: Diplotaxodon dentatus, new species. All eight type specimens were trawled together off Thumbi East Island in the Southeastern arm of the lake at 73 meters in 1985. They were initially identified as D. argenteus because the teeth on the oral jaws were fully exposed with a closed mouth. The shorter snout length of D. dentatus (26.6–29.2 % HL) clearly separates it from D. argenteus (31.7–34.2 % HL). A plot of a principal components analysis further supports the separation of D. dentatus from D. argenteus.

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