Shape plasticity in response to water velocity in the freshwater blenny Salaria fluviatilis

Abstract

A non-random association between an environmental factor and a given trait could be explained by directional selection (genetic determinism) and by phenotypic plasticity (environmental determinism). A previous study showed a significant relationship between morphology and water velocity in Salaria fluviatilis that conformed to functional expectations. The objective of this study was to test whether this relationship could be explained by phenotypic plasticity. Salaria fluviatilis from a Corsican stream were placed in four experimental channels with different water velocities (0, 10, 20 and 30 cm s(-1)) to test whether there was a morphological response associated with this environmental factor. After 28 days, fish shape changed in response to water velocity without any significant growth. Fish in higher water velocities exhibited a more slender body shape and longer anal and caudal fins. These results indicate a high degree of morphological plasticity in riverine populations of S. fluviatilis and suggest that the previous relationship between morphology and water velocity observed in the field may largely be due to an environmental determinism.

Investigating genomic and phenotypic parallelism between piscivorous and planktivorous lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) ecotypes by means ofRADseq and morphometrics analyses

“…It is therefore possible that the differentiation between the two ecotypes in this lake is the result of phenotypic plasticity (West‐Eberhard ; Proulx & Magnan ; Aubin‐Horth & Renn ; Laporte et al . ) or that adaptation occurred via different evolutionary pathways (DeFaveri et al . ; Gagnaire et al .…”

“…Nonetheless, these SNPs failed to segregate the two sympatric ecotypes present in Maganasipi Lake. It is therefore possible that the differentiation between the two ecotypes in this lake is the result of phenotypic plasticity (West-Eberhard 2003;Proulx & Magnan 2004;Aubin-Horth & Renn 2009;Laporte et al 2016a) or that adaptation occurred via different evolutionary pathways (DeFaveri et al 2011;Gagnaire et al 2013;Elmer et al 2014;Laporte et al 2015). Moreover, in sympatry, gene flow could possibly explain the misclassification of the population excluded from the jackknife-like procedure to its proper ecotype group.…”

Copy number variants outperform SNPs to reveal genotype-temperature association in a marine species

“…SST annual variance) that was best associated with CNVs instead of commonly reported average, minimum or maximum values. Organisms often use phenotypic plasticity as a strategy for maximizing their fitness in variable environments (Schlichting & Pigliucci 1998;Aubin-Horth & Renn, 2009;Laporte et al, 2016). It is possible that annual temperature variation could be compensated for by a gradation of gene copy silencing throughout the year.…”

Segmentation pattern of zebrafish caudal fin is affected by developmental temperature and defined by multiple fusions between segments

“…Growth and regeneration mechanisms of caudal‐fin lepidotrichia have been extensively studied in the past (e.g., Akimenko, Mari‐Beffa, Becerra, & Geraudie, ; Azevedo, Sousa, Jacinto, & Saude, ; Goldsmith, Iovine, O’Reilly‐Pol, & Johnson, ; Iovine, ; Jain, Stroka, Yan, Huang, & Iovine, ; Johnson & Bennett, ; Mari‐Beffa, Palmqvist, Marin‐Giron, Montes & Becerra, ; Rolland‐Lagan, Paquette, Tweedle, & Akimenko, ; van Eeden et al, ). On the contrary, to our knowledge, studies on the plasticity of this complex structure are limited to the effects of environment on the whole fin size (e.g., Imre, McLaughlin, & Noakes, ; Laporte, Claude, Berrebi, Perret, & Magnan, ).…”