scholarly journals Positive assortative mating between recently described sympatric morphs of Icelandic sticklebacks

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gudbjörg Á Ólafsdóttir ◽  
Michael G Ritchie ◽  
Sigurdur S Snorrason
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Sympatric Speciation ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Positive Assortative Mating ◽  
Important Character ◽  
Nest Type ◽  
Sympatric Morphs

Recently, models of sympatric speciation have suggested that assortative mating can develop between sympatric morphs due to divergence in an ecologically important character. For example, in sympatric pairs of threespine stickleback ( Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) size-assortative mating seems to be instrumental in reproductive isolation. Here, we examine courtship behaviour and assortative mating of newly described sympatric stickleback morphs in Lake Thingvallavatn, Iceland. We find that the two morphs show strong positive assortative mating. However, the mechanism involved in mate choice does not seem to be as straightforward as in other similar systems of sympatric stickleback morphs and may involve variation in nest type.

scholarly journals The relationship between intraspecific assortative mating and reproductive isolation between divergent populations

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 484-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel I. Bolnick ◽  
Mark Kirkpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Darwin's Finches ◽  
Phenotypic Divergence ◽  
Darwin’S Finches ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The term ‘assortative mating’ has been applied to describe two very different phenomena: (1) the tendency for individuals to choose phenotypically similar mates from among conspecifics; or (2) the tendency to prefer conspecific over hete-rospecific mates (behavioral reproductive isolation). Both forms of assortative mating are widespread in nature, but the relationship between these behaviors remains unclear. Namely, it is plausible that a preference for phenotypically similar conspecifics incidentally reduces the probability of mating with phenotypically divergent heterospecifics. We present a model to calculate how the level of reproductive isolation depends on intraspecific assortative mating and the phenotypic divergence between species. For empirically reasonable levels of intraspecific assortment on a single trait axis, we show that strong reproductive isolation requires very substantial phenotypic divergence. We illustrate this point by applying our model to empirical data from threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus and Darwin’s Finches (Geospiza spp). We conclude that typical levels of intraspecific assortment cannot generally be extrapolated to explain levels of interspecific reproductive isolation. Instead, reproductive isolation between species likely arises from different mate choice behaviors, or multivariate assortative mating.

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

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Räsänen ◽  
Matthieu Delcourt ◽  
Lauren J. Chapman ◽  
Andrew P. Hendry
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Common Garden ◽  
Adaptive Divergence ◽  
Apparent Lack ◽  
Divergent Natural Selection ◽  
Inlet Stream ◽  
Positive Assortative Mating

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?

Differences in male courtship in freshwater and marine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. McPhail ◽  
D. E. Hay
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Male Courtship ◽  
First Response ◽  
Positive Assortative Mating ◽  
First Contact

Earlier studies indicated that the freshwater and marine forms of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) in the Little Campbell River are genetically differentiated and that they do not mate randomly. In this study, we examine the possible contribution of male courtship to this positive assortative mating. Marine and freshwater sticklebacks were obtained from the Little Campbell River, southwestern British Columbia. Males were allowed to build nests in large aquaria and court females. The following courtship behaviours were recorded: zigzag bouts per minute, bites per minute, fanning bouts per minute, glueing, creeping through, and the male's first response. Freshwater males zigzag more, bite less, and glue more than marine males. The intensity of courtship in freshwater males depends on the form of female courted, whereas marine males do not alter their courtship with different forms of females. Freshwater males typically zigzag on first contact with a female, and marine males usually bite. This difference in male first response is independent of the type of female courted. Differences in male courtship provide a basis for positive assortative mating between the two forms of sticklebacks. We argue that selection should favour a male first response that signals genotype.

scholarly journals Sympatric Speciation in Threespine Stickleback: Why Not?

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel I. Bolnick
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Intraspecific Competition ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Sympatric Speciation ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Disruptive Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Diversification ◽  
Trait Variance

Numerous theoretical models suggest that sympatric speciation is possible when frequency-dependent interactions such as intraspecific competition drive disruptive selection on a trait that is also subject to assortative mating. Here, I review recent evidence that both conditions are met in lake populations of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Nonetheless, sympatric speciation appears to be rare or absent in stickleback. If stickleback qualitatively fit the theoretical requirements for sympatric speciation, why do they not undergo sympatric speciation? I present simulations showing that disruptive selection and assortative mating in stickleback, though present, are too weak to drive speciation. Furthermore, I summarize empirical evidence that disruptive selection in stickleback drives other forms of evolutionary diversification (plasticity, increased trait variance, and sexual dimorphism) instead of speciation. In conclusion, core assumptions of sympatric speciation theory seem to be qualitatively reasonable for stickleback, but speciation may nevertheless fail because of (i) quantitative mismatches with theory and (ii) alternative evolutionary outcomes.

Reproductive Isolation Among Lateral Plate Phenotypes (Low, Partial, Complete) of the Threespine Stickleback, Gasterosteus Aculeatus, From the White Sea Basin and the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia

Behaviour ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 132 (15-16) ◽  
pp. 1173-1181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valery V. Ziuganov
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
White Sea ◽  
Kamchatka Peninsula ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
The White Sea ◽  
Lateral Plate ◽  
Freshwater Pond ◽  
White Sea Basin

AbstractReproductive isolation was investigated among sympatric lateral plate morphs of threespine stickleback from the White Sea basin and also among phenotypically similar morphs from the distant Kamchatka River basin (Lake Azabachije). Female choice tests show that gene flow is restricted among the completely plated and low plated morphs at both locations; behavioural isolation between these morphs is complete among Lake Azabachije fish, and nearly so (93% positive assortative mating) among White Sea basin fish. However, the experiments also demonstrate that there are no barriers to reproduction among the Azabachije and White Sea complete morphs, among the Azabachije low and White Sea complete morphs, nor among the Azabachije complete and White Sea low morphs. In addition, there is no evidence of barriers to gene flow among the low and partially plated morphs. Therefore, although gene flow is restricted among the extreme morphs within each locality, nevertheless gene exchange is possible, either directly or secondarily, among all phenotypes. The reproductive isolation between the complete and low morphs from the White Sea basin developed in situ no more than eight generations after the sticklebacks were introduced into an isolated freshwater pond. Therefore behavioural isolation can evolve very rapidly among the lateral plate phenotypes of Gasterosteus aculeatus.

scholarly journals Sexual selection on color and behavior within and between cichlid populations: Implications for speciation

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Pauers ◽  
Jeffrey S. Mckinnon
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Separate Experiment ◽  
Color Patterns ◽  
Male Behavior ◽  
Female Population ◽  
Different Color

Abstract Sexual selection is widely viewed as playing a central role in haplochromine cichlid speciation. Hypothetically, once divergent mate preferences evolve among populations of these fishes, reproductive isolation follows and the populations begin to behave as different species. Various studies have examined patterns of assortative mating among species and sometimes populations, but few have examined variation in directional preferences, especially among populations of the same species. We investigated mate choice behavior in two populations of Labeotropheus fuelleborni, a Lake Malawi endemic. We test whether mating preferences between populations are based on the same traits and in the same direction as preferences within populations. We examine the potential contributions of two classes of trait, color patterns and behaviors, to reproductive isolation. When females chose between either two males of their own population, or two from another, female preferences were generally similar (for the female population) across the two contexts. Mate choice patterns differed between (female) populations for a measure of color, but only modestly for male behavior. In a separate experiment we simultaneously offered females a male of their own population and a male from a different population. In these trials, females consistently preferred males from their own population, which were also the males that displayed more frequently than their opponents, but not necessarily those with color traits suggested to be most attractive in the previous experiment. Thus directional preferences for chroma and related aspects of color may be important when females are presented with males of otherwise similar phenotypes, but may play little role in mediating assortative mating among populations with substantially different color patterns. A preference for male behavior could play some role in speciation if males preferentially court same-population females, as we have observed for the populations studied herein.

Field observations on the reproductive biology of a newly discovered stickleback (Gasterosteus)

1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 1057-1063 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. G. Jamieson ◽  
D. M. Blouw ◽  
P. W. Colgan
Keyword(s):  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Biological Species ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Filamentous Algae ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Cape Breton Island ◽  
Nest Sites ◽  
White Males ◽  
Cape Breton ◽  
Positive Assortative Mating

Field observations on a newly discovered form of stickleback, termed the white stickleback, were conducted at three sites in Bras d'Or Lake on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The white stickleback is sympatric with but reproductively isolated from the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). White males nest above the substrate in filamentous algae, whereas threespine males nest on the substrate away from algae. At one of our sites, however, a few males of both sticklebacks were found nesting in similar habitat, namely on top of alga-covered rocks. Nevertheless, there was microhabitat separation of the two sticklebacks, because white males consistently nest farther from the shore than threespine males. Hence, there is little interaction between the two forms during courtship of females. In areas where territories were adjacent, white males attracted gravid threespine females to their nest, but courtship broke off at that point. Observations indicated positive assortative mating, as found in earlier laboratory work, and suggest that the two sticklebacks may be good biological species. However, the previously reported association between white sticklebacks and dense growth of filamentous algae is not perfect, since white males at one site had built their nests and were actively courting females before the filamentous algae bloomed. Some white males vacated their nest sites during the day, whereas threespine males never did. It is not clear why white males do this, where they go, or for how long, but the departures may be related to the high levels of activity shown by white males while on their territories.

Symmetrical and asymmetrical sexual isolation among laboratory strains of Drosophila ananassae

1985 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bashisth N. Singh ◽  
Sujata Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Sexual Isolation ◽  
Drosophila Ananassae ◽  
Isofemale Lines ◽  
Male Choice ◽  
Positive Assortative Mating ◽  
Different Strains ◽  
Assortive Mating

Male-choice experiments using five isofemale lines of Drosophila ananassae originating from different localities were performed to study sexual isolation within the species. In most of the crosses homogamic matings outnumber heterogamic ones, and deviation from randomness is statistically significant in 11 of 20 crosses. This provides evidence for positive assortative mating within D. ananassae. Isolation indices range from −0.057 to 0.555. Eleven positive isolation indices are significantly greater than zero. Both types of sexual isolation, symmetrical and asymmetrical, have been observed among different strains. Thus the present results clearly indicate that the laboratory strains of D. ananassae have developed behavioural reproductive isolation as a result of genetic divergence.Key words: Drosophila, assortive mating, sexual selection, behaviour.

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