Effects of genetics and light environment on colour expression in threespine sticklebacks

Lewandowski, Eva; Boughman, Janette W.

doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2008.01021.x

Cited by 54 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Males were scored for throat redness, body hue (green to blue), body brightness (intensity of colour) and body darkness (melanism) by an observer before and after males courted females (using a standardized method developed by our laboratory group [15,36]). We also measured size, throat redness and body brightness for all fathers during care.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual imprinting on ecologically divergent traits leads to sexual isolation in sticklebacks

2011

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During sexual imprinting, offspring learn parental phenotypes and then select mates who are similar to their parents. Imprinting has been thought to contribute to the process of speciation in only a few rare cases; this is despite imprinting's potential to generate assortative mating and solve the problem of recombination in ecological speciation. If offspring imprint on parental traits under divergent selection, these traits will then be involved in both adaptation and mate preference. Such 'magic traits' easily generate sexual isolation and facilitate speciation. In this study, we show that imprinting occurs in two ecologically divergent stickleback species (benthics and limnetics: Gasterosteus spp.). Cross-fostered females preferred mates of their foster father's species. Furthermore, imprinting is essential for sexual isolation between species; isolation was reduced when females were raised without fathers. Daughters imprinted on father odour and colour during a critical period early in development. These traits have diverged between the species owing to differences in ecology. Therefore, we provide the first evidence that imprinting links ecological adaptation to sexual isolation between species. Our results suggest that imprinting may facilitate the evolution of sexual isolation during ecological speciation, may be especially important in cases of rapid diversification, and thus play an integral role in the generation of biodiversity.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual imprinting on ecologically divergent traits leads to sexual isolation in sticklebacks

2011

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“…Second, laboratory mate choice experiments are always conducted under artificial conditions and thus exclude genotype-by-environment interactions that might be important in nature (e.g., [49,60]). Regardless, our experimental tanks and our no-choice design were very similar to those used in several previous studies that did detect PAMC in stickleback (Table S1), and we also did not detect PAMC using a different experimental design [29].…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Divergent Selection and Then What Not: The Conundrum of Missing Reproductive Isolation in Misty Lake and Stream Stickleback

Räsänen

Delcourt

Chapman

et al. 2012

International Journal of Ecology

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In ecological speciation, reproductive isolation evolves as a consequence of adaptation to different selective environments. A frequent contributor to this process is the evolution of positive assortative mate choice between ecotypes. We tested this expectation for lake and inlet stream threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) from the Misty system (Vancouver Island, Canada), which show strong genetically based adaptive divergence and little genetic exchange in nature. This, and work on other stickleback systems, led us to expect positive assortative mating. Yet, our standard "no-choice" laboratory experiment on common-garden fish revealed no evidence for this-despite divergence in traits typically mediating assortative mating in stickleback. These results remind us that divergent natural selection may not inevitably lead to the evolution of positive assortative mate choice. The apparent lack of strong and symmetric reproductive barriers in this system presents a conundrum: why are such barriers not evident despite strong adaptive divergence and low gene flow in nature?

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“…The threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, has long been a model of ecological and evolutionary research to explore the role of colour in sexual selection (Rowland, 1994;Smith et al, 2004;Boulcott and Braithwaite, 2007;Lewandowski and Boughman, 2008). During the breeding season, males from most stickleback populations develop red colour on the throat, jaw and anterior part of the belly, and iridescent blue irises (Albert et al, 2007;Pike et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the breeding season, males from most stickleback populations develop red colour on the throat, jaw and anterior part of the belly, and iridescent blue irises (Albert et al, 2007;Pike et al, 2011). This 'nuptial' (courtship) colour is aimed at attracting reproductive females to deposit their eggs in the male's nest, as females often (but not always) (see Rowland, 1994) prefer males with the most intense and largest red throat coloured area (Lewandowski and Boughman, 2008). Indeed, red colour is positively correlated with physical condition, parasite resistance, courtship effort, nest defence during parental care, and mating success (see Smith et al, 2004;Albert et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Traditionally, stickleback literature has focused on the redness of the throat/jaw as the major nuptial signal driving female mate choice (Rowland, 1994;Lewandowski and Boughman, 2008). The omnipresence of the blue iris in all populations, and the lack of a red throat/jaw in some dystrophic lake populations, suggests that perhaps the iris plays at least as important a role as the throat/jaw in female mate choice.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Role of the iridescent eye in stickleback female mate choice

Flamarique

Bergstrom

Cheng

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYMany vertebrates exhibit prominent body colours that are used in courtship and territorial communication. Some fishes also have an eye whose iris becomes iridescent during the mating season, as in the threespine stickleback. Behavioural studies in this species have focused on the redness of the throat/jaw as the primary determinant of female mate choice. Unlike the iridescent eye, however, the red throat/jaw is not present in all stickleback populations, suggesting that the colour of the eye may be equally important for female mate choice. Here, we used data on photoreceptors and environmental light to assess body conspicuousness and the colour contrast of courtship signals for stickleback populations living in a range of waters, from clear (mesotrophic) to red light shifted (dystrophic). This analysis indicated that the redness of the throat/jaw is expressed to enhance the contrast of the eye. To test the importance of eye colour as a courtship signal, we carried out mate choice experiments in which females were presented with identical videos of a courting male but for the colour of the eye and/or the throat/jaw. Females did not choose based on differences in throat/jaw redness between videos, but preferred males with the highest contrast between the eye and the throat/jaw. This result points to the blue iridescent eye as a primary courtship signal in stickleback female mate choice.

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Effects of genetics and light environment on colour expression in threespine sticklebacks

Cited by 54 publications

References 74 publications

Sexual imprinting on ecologically divergent traits leads to sexual isolation in sticklebacks

Sexual imprinting on ecologically divergent traits leads to sexual isolation in sticklebacks

Divergent Selection and Then What Not: The Conundrum of Missing Reproductive Isolation in Misty Lake and Stream Stickleback

Role of the iridescent eye in stickleback female mate choice

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