Electrophoretic polymorphism and sexual dimorphism in the freshwater and anadromous threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) of the Little Campbell River, British Columbia

1986 ◽  
Vol 24 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 701-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Withler ◽  
J. D. McPhail ◽  
R. H. Devlin
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks ◽  
Electrophoretic Polymorphism

scholarly journals Diversity and sexual dimorphism in the head lateral line system in North Sea populations of threespine sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus (Teleostei: Gasterosteidae)

Zoomorphology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Ahnelt ◽  
David Ramler ◽  
Maria Ø. Madsen ◽  
Lasse F. Jensen ◽  
Sonja Windhager
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Lateral Line ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Lateral Line System ◽  
Line System ◽  
Marine Population ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks

AbstractThe mechanosensory lateral line of fishes is a flow sensing system and supports a number of behaviors, e.g. prey detection, schooling or position holding in water currents. Differences in the neuromast pattern of this sensory system reflect adaptation to divergent ecological constraints. The threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, is known for its ecological plasticity resulting in three major ecotypes, a marine type, a migrating anadromous type and a resident freshwater type. We provide the first comparative study of the pattern of the head lateral line system of North Sea populations representing these three ecotypes including a brackish spawning population. We found no distinct difference in the pattern of the head lateral line system between the three ecotypes but significant differences in neuromast numbers. The anadromous and the brackish populations had distinctly less neuromasts than their freshwater and marine conspecifics. This difference in neuromast number between marine and anadromous threespine stickleback points to differences in swimming behavior. We also found sexual dimorphism in neuromast number with males having more neuromasts than females in the anadromous, brackish and the freshwater populations. But no such dimorphism occurred in the marine population. Our results suggest that the head lateral line of the three ecotypes is under divergent hydrodynamic constraints. Additionally, sexual dimorphism points to divergent niche partitioning of males and females in the anadromous and freshwater but not in the marine populations. Our findings imply careful sampling as an important prerequisite to discern especially between anadromous and marine threespine sticklebacks.

Evolutionary history of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus spp.) in British Columbia: insights from a physiological clock

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (11) ◽  
pp. 2154-2158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rees Kassen ◽  
Dolph Schluter ◽  
John Donald McPhail
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Salt Water ◽  
Freshwater Invasion ◽  
Freshwater Population ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks ◽  
History Of

Geologic and allozyme evidence suggests that threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus complex) in low-lying southwestern British Columbia lakes were founded during two incursions of marine sticklebacks after the retreat of the Pleistocene glaciers (the double-invasion hypothesis). We used the salinity tolerance of embryos, measured as hatchability in salt water, to establish the relative order of freshwater invasion by marine sticklebacks and to test the double-invasion hypothesis. Limnetics and an anadromous population hatched nearly equivalent numbers of young in salt water as in fresh water, whereas benthics and one solitary freshwater population had low hatchability in salt water. We also found that eggs from freshwater populations were larger than those from marine populations and limnetics had smaller eggs than benthics and the solitary population. These results support the double-invasion hypothesis and suggest a trend of increasing egg size with increasing time spent in fresh water.

Genetic variability in freshwater and anadromous sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) of southern British Columbia

1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 528-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Withler ◽  
J. D. McPhail
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Electrophoretic Variation ◽  
Average Heterozygosity ◽  
Polymorphic Loci ◽  
Allelic Frequencies ◽  
Marine Habitats ◽  
Freshwater Habitats ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks ◽  
Freshwater Stickleback

Electrophoretic variation at eight loci was compared between anadromous and freshwater populations of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) collected from 56 sites in southwestern British Columbia and northwestern Washington. Allelic frequencies at five polymorphic loci were heterogeneous among populations and the average allelic frequencies at four loci differed between anadromous and freshwater sticklebacks. The average number of polymorphic loci was greater in anadromous (4.6) than in freshwater (3.2) populations. The average heterozygosity was 0.113 ± 0.001 in anadromous and 0.117 ± 0.003 in freshwater stickleback populations. Anadromous populations were more polymorphic but less heterogeneous than freshwater populations. The standardized genetic variance indicated only moderate differentiation among anadromous populations from marine habitats, but considerable differentiation among populations from freshwater habitats. Our data are consistent with the hypothesis of postglacial polyphyletic origins for freshwater populations of Gasterosteus, but also indicate that selection favours different alleles in marine and freshwater environments, at least at the Mdh-1 locus.

Role of Nest Raiding and Egg Predation in Regulating Population Density of Threespine Sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) in a Coastal British Columbia Lake

1989 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim D. Hyatt ◽  
Neil H. Ringler
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Population Regulation ◽  
Egg Predation ◽  
Coastal Lake ◽  
Egg Consumption ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks ◽  
Coastal British Columbia

The consequences of nest raiding and egg predation for population regulation of sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) were studied in a British Columbia coastal lake. Stickleback eggs were present in the stomachs of 23 and 11% of all sticklebacks sampled from the field in 1982 and 1985 respectively. On average, males consumed more eggs than did females. Seasonal egg consumption increased with increases in stickleback density in breeding colonies. In experimental enclosure studies, nest densities varied between 0 and 3∙m−2 as stickleback numbers were manipulated from 1.5 to 12∙m−2. Peak nest densities occurred at 5.8 fish∙m−2. Stickleback density explained 70–86% of the variation in nest numbers in an application of a Ricker stock–recruit model and weekly rates of nest survival exhibited strong density dependence. Our evidence indicates that both nest raiding and egg cannibalism are important in limiting the production of stickleback fry as population density increases in scattered, lakeshore, breeding colonies of Kennedy Lake.

Egg cannibalism and the reproductive strategies of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) in a coastal British Columbia lake

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 2036-2046 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. D. Hyatt ◽  
N. H. Ringler
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Filial Cannibalism ◽  
Substantial Part ◽  
Egg Cannibalism ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks ◽  
Reproductive Cycles ◽  
Breeding Seasons ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Coastal British Columbia

Patterns of egg eating and their association with differences in sex, size, abundance, and reproductive status of free-ranging sticklebacks from Kennedy Lake, British Columbia, were examined as a means of identifying the relative importance of filial cannibalism or heterocannibalism as the source of eggs in the diet. Egg cannibalism was a common event: 23.0 and 11.2% of the sticklebacks examined in 1982 and 1985, respectively, had engaged in egg eating. Eggs were a substantial part of the overall diet of the stickleback population during two breeding seasons: 27.4% of the diet of all fish by weight in 1982, 32.8% of the diet by volume in 1985. Our results do not support Rohwer's contention that filial cannibalism is the source of most eggs in stickleback diets. Ten out of 11 predictions based on the filial cannibalism hypothesis were rejected, whereas the 11th was compatible with either the filial cannibalism hypothesis or the alternative heterocannibalism hypothesis. We conclude that heterocannibalism, not filial cannibalism, is the major source of eggs in the diet of Kennedy Lake sticklebacks. We suggest that nest raiding and egg cannibalism may minimize time spent foraging and maximize time spent on activities that increase the probability of initiating and successfully completing one or more reproductive cycles. Although the benefits of nest raiding and cannibalism are most obvious for populations breeding under conditions where food supplies clearly limit their potential reproductive output, the benefits may still apply even under conditions where alternative prey sources appear to be abundant.

Effects of constant and fluctuating temperatures on egg production in the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (6) ◽  
pp. 1599-1602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vital Boulé ◽  
Gerard J. Fitzgerald
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Egg Production ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Reproduction Number ◽  
Temperature Fluctuations ◽  
Spawning Grounds ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks ◽  
Fluctuating Temperatures

Female threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) spend only 9–15 days on the spawning grounds, an intertidal salt marsh at Isle Verte, Quebec, during a 2-month breeding season. Individuals average only one spawning. However, in the laboratory they lay clutches of several hundred eggs every 3–5 days for several months. We designed laboratory experiments to determine (i) whether daily temperature fluctuations similar to those encountered in the marsh affect reproduction (number of clutches, number of eggs per clutch, and size of eggs) and (ii) whether the amplitude of the fluctuations encountered by the fish affects reproduction. We compared the reproduction of females held in fluctuating temperatures with that of females kept at 20 °C. Fish kept under fluctuating conditions produced more eggs per clutch but had longer interspawning intervals than those at 20 °C. Total seasonal egg production and egg size did not differ between the two groups. Fish in fluctuating temperatures survived longer and were in better condition than those at 20 °C. We conclude that the amplitude of the fluctuations is less important than mean temperature in determining reproductive performance. Fluctuating temperatures on the spawning grounds are not responsible for the short residency there.

Loon abundance and behaviour over four decades at a remote ecological reserve on Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-38
Author(s):  
Thomas Reimchen ◽  
Sheila Douglas
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Inverse Correlation ◽  
Gavia Immer ◽  
Haida Gwaii ◽  
Average Wind Speed ◽  
The North ◽  
Common Loons ◽  
Ecological Reserve

Early studies (1976–1982) of the Drizzle Lake Ecological Reserve on Haida Gwaii, British Columbia focussed on the endemic Giant Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and their predators. These surveys showed daily visits to the small lake (110 ha) by up to 59 adult non-breeding Common Loon (Gavia immer), an important stickleback predator and up to 19 breeding and non-breeding adult Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata), which leave daily to forage in nearby marine waters. We continued loon surveys for 17 additional years (1983–1989, 2011–2020) and found that aggregations of non-breeding Common Loons occurred annually on the lake during July with maximum daily numbers of 78–83 individuals in 1987, 2018, and 2020 and a large increase from 2011 to 2020. We did not detect any relationship of these differences with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation but a significant inverse correlation with average wind speed. Average yearly numbers of Red-throated Loons declined by 50% from 1976 to 1989 and have remained low, with lowest numbers (<2) occurring in 2017. Two Red-throated Loon nesting territories on the lake were occupied from 1976 to 1995, with chicks occurring in 24 of 36 nests, but no successful nesting was observed on the lake over the last decade. The relative decline of Red-throated Loon in this reserve is similar to that reported in Arctic and Subarctic surveys of the species in the north Pacific and northern Europe. We discuss the implications for the evolutionary ecology of the sticklebacks and the conservation of the ecological reserve.

Burst swimming and its enzymatic correlates in the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus): full-sib heritabilities

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 680-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Garenc ◽  
Frederick G Silversides ◽  
Helga Guderley
Keyword(s):  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Creatine Phosphokinase ◽  
Swimming Performance ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
Paternal Effects ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks ◽  
Burst Swimming ◽  
Intrafamilial Variability

Full-sib heritabilities of burst-swimming capacity and its enzymatic correlates were calculated in juvenile threespine sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus, from 25 families raised under constant laboratory conditions. Variation among families in burst-swimming performance, enzyme activities, body size, and condition of the juveniles was considerable. Estimates of full-sib heritabilities of absolute and relative burst-swimming performance decreased during ontogenesis, as they were higher for 2-month-old than for 3.6-month-old sticklebacks. This decline may reflect a decrease in the importance of paternal effects with age, as well as an increase in intrafamilial variability due to the existence of feeding or social hierarachies. Enzymatic correlates of burst-swimming performance measured in 3.6-month-old sticklebacks had higher full-sib heritabilities than burst-swimming performance itself, with the highest values found for cytochrome c oxidase, followed by lactate dehydrogenase and then phosphofructokinase and creatine phosphokinase. These results suggest that genetic factors may have a considerable influence upon burst-swimming performance and muscle metabolic capacities of juvenile threespine sticklebacks, but that this influence may be tempered by biotic interactions.

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