scholarly journals Developmental effects of environmental light on male nuptial coloration in Lake Victoria cichlid fish

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel S. Wright ◽  
Emma Rietveld ◽  
Martine E. Maan
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Light Condition ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Light Conditions ◽  
Nuptial Coloration ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Depth Ranges ◽  
Male Coloration

Background. Efficient communication requires that signals are well transmitted and perceived in a given environment. Natural selection therefore drives the evolution of different signals in different environments. In addition, environmental heterogeneity at small spatial or temporal scales may favour phenotypic plasticity in signaling traits, as plasticity may allow rapid adjustment of signal expression to optimize transmission. In this study, we explore signal plasticity in the nuptial coloration of Lake Victoria cichlids, Pundamilia pundamilia and Pundamilia nyererei. These two species differ in male coloration, which mediates species-assortative mating. They occur in adjacent depth ranges with different light environments. Given the close proximity of their habitats, overlapping at some locations, plasticity in male coloration could contribute to male reproductive success but interfere with reproductive isolation. Methods. We reared P. pundamilia, P. nyererei, and their hybrids under light conditions mimicking the two depth ranges in Lake Victoria. From photographs, we quantified the nuptial coloration of males, spanning the entire visible spectrum. In experiment 1, we examined developmental colour plasticity by comparing sibling males reared in each light condition. In experiment 2, we assessed colour plasticity in adulthood, by switching adult males between conditions and tracking coloration for 100 days. Results. We found that nuptial colour in Pundamilia did respond plastically to our light manipulations, but only in a limited hue range. Fish that were reared in light conditions mimicking the deeper habitat were significantly greener than those in conditions mimicking shallow waters. The species-specific nuptial colours (blue and red) did not change. When moved to the opposing light condition as adults, males did not change colour. Discussion. Our results show that species-specific nuptial colours, which are subject to strong divergent selection by female choice, are not plastic. We do find plasticity in green coloration, a response that may contribute to visual conspicuousness in darker, red-shifted light environments. These results suggest that light-environment-induced plasticity in male nuptial coloration in P. pundamilia and P. nyererei is limited and does not interfere with reproductive isolation.

scholarly journals Developmental effects of environmental light on male nuptial coloration in Lake Victoria cichlid fish

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel S. Wright ◽  
Emma Rietveld ◽  
Martine E. Maan
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Light Condition ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Light Conditions ◽  
Nuptial Coloration ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Depth Ranges ◽  
Male Coloration

Background. Efficient communication requires that signals are well transmitted and perceived in a given environment. Natural selection therefore drives the evolution of different signals in different environments. In addition, environmental heterogeneity at small spatial or temporal scales may favour phenotypic plasticity in signaling traits, as plasticity may allow rapid adjustment of signal expression to optimize transmission. In this study, we explore signal plasticity in the nuptial coloration of Lake Victoria cichlids, Pundamilia pundamilia and Pundamilia nyererei. These two species differ in male coloration, which mediates species-assortative mating. They occur in adjacent depth ranges with different light environments. Given the close proximity of their habitats, overlapping at some locations, plasticity in male coloration could contribute to male reproductive success but interfere with reproductive isolation. Methods. We reared P. pundamilia, P. nyererei, and their hybrids under light conditions mimicking the two depth ranges in Lake Victoria. From photographs, we quantified the nuptial coloration of males, spanning the entire visible spectrum. In experiment 1, we examined developmental colour plasticity by comparing sibling males reared in each light condition. In experiment 2, we assessed colour plasticity in adulthood, by switching adult males between conditions and tracking coloration for 100 days. Results. We found that nuptial colour in Pundamilia did respond plastically to our light manipulations, but only in a limited hue range. Fish that were reared in light conditions mimicking the deeper habitat were significantly greener than those in conditions mimicking shallow waters. The species-specific nuptial colours (blue and red) did not change. When moved to the opposing light condition as adults, males did not change colour. Discussion. Our results show that species-specific nuptial colours, which are subject to strong divergent selection by female choice, are not plastic. We do find plasticity in green coloration, a response that may contribute to visual conspicuousness in darker, red-shifted light environments. These results suggest that light-environment-induced plasticity in male nuptial coloration in P. pundamilia and P. nyererei is limited and does not interfere with reproductive isolation.

scholarly journals Developmental effects of environmental light on male nuptial coloration in Lake Victoria cichlid fish

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Shane Wright ◽  
Emma Rietveld ◽  
Martine E. Maan
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Light Condition ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Light Conditions ◽  
Nuptial Coloration ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Depth Ranges ◽  
Male Coloration

BackgroundEfficient communication requires that signals are well transmitted and perceived in a given environment. Natural selection therefore drives the evolution of different signals in different environments. In addition, environmental heterogeneity at small spatial or temporal scales may favour phenotypic plasticity in signaling traits, as plasticity may allow rapid adjustment of signal expression to optimize transmission. In this study, we explore signal plasticity in the nuptial coloration of Lake Victoria cichlids,Pundamilia pundamiliaandPundamilia nyererei.These two species differ in male coloration, which mediates species-assortative mating. They occur in adjacent depth ranges with different light environments. Given the close proximity of their habitats, overlapping at some locations, plasticity in male coloration could contribute to male reproductive success but interfere with reproductive isolation.MethodsWe rearedP. pundamilia,P. nyererei,and their hybrids under light conditions mimicking the two depth ranges in Lake Victoria. From photographs, we quantified the nuptial coloration of males, spanning the entire visible spectrum. In experiment 1, we examined developmental colour plasticity by comparing sibling males reared in each light condition. In experiment 2, we assessed colour plasticity in adulthood, by switching adult males between conditions and tracking coloration for 100 days.ResultsWe found that nuptial colour inPundamiliadid respond plastically to our light manipulations, but only in a limited hue range. Fish that were reared in light conditions mimicking the deeper habitat were significantly greener than those in conditions mimicking shallow waters. The species-specific nuptial colours (blue and red) did not change. When moved to the opposing light condition as adults, males did not change colour.DiscussionOur results show that species-specific nuptial colours, which are subject to strong divergent selection by female choice, are not plastic. We do find plasticity in green coloration, a response that may contribute to visual conspicuousness in darker, red-shifted light environments. These results suggest that light-environment-induced plasticity in male nuptial coloration inP. pundamiliaandP. nyerereiis limited and does not interfere with reproductive isolation.

scholarly journals Segregation of Species-Specific Male Attractiveness in F2 Hybrid Lake Malawi Cichlid Fish

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ola Svensson ◽  
Bernd Egger ◽  
Boye Gricar ◽  
Katie Woodhouse ◽  
Cock van Oosterhout ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Genetic Model ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Lake Malawi ◽  
Paternity Analysis ◽  
Colour Pattern ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Heritable Variation ◽  
Species Specific

Among the huge radiations of haplochromine cichlid fish in Lakes Malawi and Victoria, closely related species are often reproductively isolated via female mate choice although viable fertile hybrids can be produced when females are confined only with heterospecific males. We generated F2 hybrid males from a cross between a pair of closely related sympatric cichlid fish from Lake Malawi. Laboratory mate choice experiments using microsatellite paternity analysis demonstrated that F2 hybrid males differed significantly in their attractiveness to females of the two parental species, indicating heritable variation in traits involved in mate choice that may contribute to reproductive isolation between these species. We found no significant correlation between male mating success and any measurement of male colour pattern. A simple quantitative genetic model of reproductive isolation suggests that there may be as few as two chromosomal regions controlling species-specific attractiveness. We propose that adaptive radiation of Lake Malawi cichlids could be facilitated by the presence of genes with major effects on mate choice and reproductive isolation.

scholarly journals Fitness correlates of male coloration in a Lake Victoria cichlid fish

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 691-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine E. Maan ◽  
Michael van der Spoel ◽  
Paloma Quesada Jimenez ◽  
Jacques J.M. van Alphen ◽  
Ole Seehausen
Keyword(s):  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Male Coloration

scholarly journals No evidence for a genetic association between female mating preference and male secondary sexual trait in a Lake Victoria cichlid fish

2010 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inke van der Sluijs ◽  
Ole Seehausen ◽  
Tom J. M.Van Dooren ◽  
Jacques J. M. van Alphen
Keyword(s):  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Male Offspring ◽  
Mating Preference ◽  
Turbid Water ◽  
Genetic Associations ◽  
Heritable Variation ◽  
Nuptial Coloration ◽  
Female Mating ◽  
Phenotype Distribution

Abstract Sexual selection by female mating preference for male nuptial coloration has been suggested as a driving force in the rapid speciation of Lake Victoria cichlid fish. This process could have been facilitated or accelerated by genetic associations between female preference loci and male coloration loci. Preferences, as well as coloration, are heritable traits and are probably determined by more than one gene. However, little is known about potential genetic associations between these traits. In turbid water, we found a population that is variable in male nuptial coloration from blue to yellow to red. Males at the extreme ends of the phenotype distribution resemble a reproductively isolated species pair in clear water that has diverged into one species with blue-grey males and one species with bright red males. Females of the turbid water population vary in mating preference coinciding with the male phenotype distribution. For the current study, these females were mated to blue males. We measured the coloration of the sires and male offspring. Parents-offspring regression showed that the sires did not affect male offspring coloration, which confirms earlier findings that the blue species breeds true. In contrast, male offspring coloration was determined by the identity of the dams, which suggests that there is heritable variation in male color genes between females. However, we found that mating preferences of the dams were not correlated with male offspring coloration. Thus, there is no evidence for strong genetic linkage between mating preference and the preferred trait in this population.

scholarly journals Species-Specific Relationships between Water Transparency and Male Coloration within and between Two Closely Related Lake Victoria Cichlid Species

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth F. Castillo Cajas ◽  
Oliver M. Selz ◽  
Erwin A. P. Ripmeester ◽  
Ole Seehausen ◽  
Martine E. Maan
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Species Difference ◽  
Water Transparency ◽  
Species Differentiation ◽  
Cichlid Species ◽  
Body Regions ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Male Coloration

Environmental variation in signalling conditions affects animal communication traits, with possible consequences for sexual selection and reproductive isolation. Using spectrophotometry, we studied how male coloration within and between populations of two closely related Lake Victoria cichlid species (Pundamilia pundamilia and P. nyererei) covaries with water transparency. Focusing on coloration patches implicated in sexual selection, we predicted that in clear waters, with broad-spectrum light, (1) colours should become more saturated and (2) shift in hue away from the dominant ambient wavelengths, compared to more turbid waters. We found support for these predictions for the red and yellow coloration of P. nyererei but not the blue coloration of P. pundamilia. This may be explained by the species difference in depth distribution, which generates a steeper gradient in visual conditions for P. nyererei compared to P. pundamilia. Alternatively, the importance of male coloration in intraspecific sexual selection may differ between the species. We also found that anal fin spots, that is, the orange spots on male haplochromine anal fins that presumably mimic eggs, covaried with water transparency in a similar way for both species. This is in contrast to the other body regions studied and suggests that, while indeed functioning as signals, these spots may not play a role in species differentiation.

scholarly journals Community Genetics Reveal Elevated Levels of Sympatric Gene Flow among Morphologically Similar but Not among Morphologically Dissimilar Species of Lake Victoria Cichlid Fish

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Konijnendijk ◽  
D. A. Joyce ◽  
H. D. J. Mrosso ◽  
M. Egas ◽  
O. Seehausen
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Mechanistic Explanation ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Community Genetics ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Haplochromine Cichlids ◽  
Island Communities

We examined genetic structure among five species of Lake Victoria haplochromine cichlids in four island communities, using a full factorial sampling design that compared genetic differentiation between pairs of species and populations of varying morphological similarity and geographical proximity. We found that allopatric conspecific populations were on average significantly more strongly differentiated than sympatric heterospecific populations of morphologically similar species. Allopatric heterospecific populations of morphologically dissimilar species were most differentiated. Our work demonstrates that phenotypic divergence can be maintained and perhaps even evolve in sympatry despite considerable gene flow between species. Conversely, phenotypic resemblance among conspecific populations can be maintained despite geographical isolation. Additionally we show that anthropogenically increased hybridization does not affect all sympatric species evenly but predominantly affects morphologically similar and closely related species. This has important implications for the evolution of reproductive isolation between species These findings are also consistent with the hypothesis of speciation reversal due to weakening of divergent selection and reproductive isolation as a consequence of habitat homogenization and offers an evolutionary mechanistic explanation for the observation that species poor assemblages in turbid areas of the lake are characterized by just one or two species in each of a few morphologically distinct genera.

scholarly journals Genetic architecture of a key reproductive isolation trait differs between sympatric and non-sympatric sister species of Lake Victoria cichlids

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1924) ◽  
pp. 20200270
Author(s):  
Anna F. Feller ◽  
Marcel P. Haesler ◽  
Catherine L. Peichel ◽  
Ole Seehausen
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Related Species ◽  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Sister Species ◽  
Species Pair ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Nuptial Coloration

One hallmark of the East African cichlid radiations is the rapid evolution of reproductive isolation that is robust to full sympatry of many closely related species. Theory predicts that species persistence and speciation in sympatry with gene flow are facilitated if loci of large effect or physical linkage (or pleiotropy) underlie traits involved in reproductive isolation. Here, we investigate the genetic architecture of a key trait involved in behavioural isolation, male nuptial coloration, by crossing two sister species pairs of Lake Victoria cichlids of the genus Pundamilia and mapping nuptial coloration in the F2 hybrids. One is a young sympatric species pair, representative of an axis of colour motif differentiation, red-dorsum versus blue, that is highly recurrent in closely related sympatric species. The other is a species pair representative of colour motifs, red-chest versus blue, that are common in allopatric but uncommon in sympatric closely related species. We find significant quantitative trait loci (QTLs) with moderate to large effects (some overlapping) for red and yellow in the sympatric red-dorsum × blue cross, whereas we find no significant QTLs in the non-sympatric red-chest × blue cross. These findings are consistent with theory predicting that large effect loci or linkage/pleiotropy underlying mating trait differentiation could facilitate speciation and species persistence with gene flow in sympatry.

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