Going, going, gone: evidence for loss of an endemic species pair of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) with implications for protection under species-at-risk legislation

Taylor, Eric B.; Piercey, Rebecca S.

doi:10.1007/s10592-017-1000-4

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The patterns we found in Paxton and Priest Lakes were not maintained in Enos Lake, in which formerly reproductively isolated benthic and limnetic fish hybridized extensively shortly after the introduction of crayfish to that lake ( Taylor et al 2006 ; Taylor and Piercey 2017 ). Species differences were reduced for the optic tectum and olfactory bulb, and were reversed for total brain size.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…We also include fish from Enos Lake, which historically had a pair of reproductively isolated species that showed substantial differences in behavior and ecological traits ( McPhail 1984 ). However, recently they have hybridized extensively after anthropogenic disturbance (introduction of crayfish), resulting in the loss of morphological and genetic differentiation ( Gow et al 2006 ; Taylor et al 2006 ; Cooper et al 2011 ; Taylor and Piercey 2017 ), as well as loss of reproductive isolation ( Lackey and Boughman 2013 ). We were interested to see whether this hybridization could have led to a decoupling between ecologically divergent characters such as body shape and brain morphology.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Brain differences in ecologically differentiated sticklebacks

2017

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Populations that have recently diverged offer a powerful model for studying evolution. Ecological differences are expected to generate divergent selection on multiple traits, including neurobiological ones. Animals must detect, process, and act on information from their surroundings and the form of this information can be highly dependent on the environment. We might expect different environments to generate divergent selection not only on the sensory organs, but also on the brain regions responsible for processing sensory information. Here, we test this hypothesis using recently evolved reproductively isolated species pairs of threespine stickleback fish Gasterosteus aculeatus that have well-described differences in many morphological and behavioral traits correlating with ecological differences. We use a state-of-the-art method, magnetic resonance imaging, to get accurate volumetric data for 2 sensory processing regions, the olfactory bulbs and optic tecta. We found a tight correlation between ecology and the size of these brain regions relative to total brain size in 2 lakes with intact species pairs. Limnetic fish, which rely heavily on vision, had relatively larger optic tecta and smaller olfactory bulbs compared with benthic fish, which utilize olfaction to a greater extent. Benthic fish also had larger total brain volumes relative to their body size compared with limnetic fish. These differences were erased in a collapsed species pair in Enos Lake where anthropogenic disturbance has led to intense hybridization. Together these data indicate that evolution of sensory processing regions can occur rapidly and independently.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

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confidence: 99%

Brain differences in ecologically differentiated sticklebacks

2017

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“…However, many factors such as turbidity, conductivity, and perhaps temperature could be important to their presence and ongoing changes to their distribution can potentially bring about changes in hybridisation with SS as observed in other taxa (Chen et al, 2011;Chunco, 2014;Seehausen, 2006;Seehausen et al, 2008). Such scenarios with rare and threatened species, generally present an increased risk to extinction through introgression (Rhymer & Simberloff, 1996;Taylor & Piercey, 2018).…”

Section: Conservation Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat use and hybridisation between the Rocky Mountain sculpin (Cottussp.) and slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus)

et al. 2018

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Anthropogenic factors such as land‐use change, pollution, and climate change can cause fragmentation and reduce the amount of habitat by altering preferred conditions. This process can also bring about novel species interactions and, in some cases, create or alter levels of hybridisation between closely related species. We assessed the threat of hybridisation to the persistence of the Rocky Mountain sculpin (Cottus sp.) and the slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus) in the Flathead River, British Columbia, Canada. Individuals collected from 95 sites provided 731 genetic samples that were genotyped at 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci and mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase sequences, to assess: (a) if there are differences in the distribution of Rocky Mountain sculpin between contemporary and historical (35 years ago) records, (b) if hybridisation is symmetrical in terms of sex‐specific parental contributions, and (c) if habitat preferences contribute to the distribution of pure parental and hybrid populations. We identified three hybrid locations and that Rocky Mountain sculpin have an altitudinal distribution (1,200–1,902 m) that exceeds the range limit reported 35 years ago (1,200–1,372 m). Additionally, hybrid mating appears to involve similar proportions of parents of both sexes from each species. Lastly, elevation, turbidity, and sediment type are significant factors predicting the presence of parental species. Further, elevation and water conductivity are significant factors to predicting hybrid presence. The contrasting associations of parental species with different habitat types appear to influence the extent and distribution of hybridisation. Our results suggest that Rocky Mountain sculpin (a species of conservation concern) do not appear to be at risk due to hybridisation, but that this is a system in flux. Given the importance of environmental conditions to hybridisation, there is a need to quantify how environmental changes may disrupt current hybridisation and potential population viability.

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“…We examined delayed local enhancement in sticklebacks from three different lakes, two with an intact, reproductively isolated pair of limnetic and benthic species (intact 'speciespairs', Paxton and Priest Lakes [17]) and one that historically contained a reproductively isolated species-pair that collapsed into a hybrid swarm after the introduction of crayfish (Enos Lake [18][19][20][21]). Thus, we can test for replicated divergence in social information use in limnetic-benthic species-pairs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repeated parallel differentiation of social learning differences in benthic and limnetic threespine stickleback fish

Keagy,

Lehto,

Minter

et al. 2023

Biol. Lett.

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Individuals can reduce sampling costs and increase foraging efficiency by using information provided by others. One simple form of social information use is delayed local enhancement or increased interest in a location because of the past presence of others. We tested for delayed local enhancement in two ecomorphs of stickleback fish, benthic and limnetic, from three different lakes with putative independent evolutionary origins. Two of these lakes have reproductively isolated ecomorphs (species-pairs), whereas in the third, a previously intact species-pair recently collapsed into a hybrid swarm. Benthic fish in both intact species-pair lakes were more likely to exhibit delayed local enhancement despite being more solitary than limnetic fish. Their behaviour and morphology suggest their current perceived risk and past evolutionary pressure from predation did not drive this difference. In the hybrid swarm lake, we found a reversal in patterns of social information use, with limnetic-looking fish showing delayed local enhancement rather than benthic-looking fish. Together, our results strongly support parallel differentiation of social learning differences in recently evolved fish species, although hybridization can apparently erode and possibly even reverse these differences.

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Going, going, gone: evidence for loss of an endemic species pair of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) with implications for protection under species-at-risk legislation

Cited by 5 publications

References 36 publications

Brain differences in ecologically differentiated sticklebacks

Brain differences in ecologically differentiated sticklebacks

Habitat use and hybridisation between the Rocky Mountain sculpin (Cottussp.) and slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus)

Repeated parallel differentiation of social learning differences in benthic and limnetic threespine stickleback fish

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