Presentation Details
| Phenotypic Plasticity, Assortative Mating and Adaptive Divergence in Threespine Stickleback Fish Matthew A.Wund1, Mark K.Sanda2, Krishna R.Veeramah2. 1The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ, USA.2Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA |
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity may promote adaptive divergence when individuals develop in different habitats, leading to divergent morphology that is subsequently the basis for mate choice. We are testing this hypothesis using recently established freshwater populations of threespine stickleback fish inhabiting three Alaskan lakes that formed following the construction of a coastal highway. During the breeding season, these lakes contain both migratory anadromous stickleback and much smaller, freshwater residents that have recently descended from the anadromous migrants. We propose that phenotypic plasticity in body size leads to size-assortative mating between the two forms, facilitating the rapid formation and eventual maintenance of genomically-diverged ecotypes. Field observations indicate strong assortative mating, and preliminary results from a mate preference experiment indicate that both body size plasticity and ecotype identity lead to assortative mating. A genomic study is underway to determine whether this assortative mating is promoting adaptive genomic divergence between the ecotypes.
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