10.5061/DRYAD.N5TB2RBWR
Ramesh, Aparajitha
0000-0002-7200-1366
University of Groningen
Groothuis, Ton
University of Groningen
Weissing, Franz
University of Groningen
Nicolaus, Marion
University of Groningen
Habitat fragmentation induces rapid phenotypic divergence of migratory and
isolated sticklebacks
Dryad
dataset
2021
Gasterosteus aculeatus
migration
behavioral syndrome
anthropogenic changes
PhD fellowship of the Adaptive Life programme, University of Groningen*
European Research Council
https://ror.org/0472cxd90
789240
Waddenfonds
https://ror.org/02h1t6f69
Ruim Baan voor Vissen
Dr. J.L. Dobberke Foundation*
KNAWWF/3391/1911
2021-10-25T00:00:00Z
2021-10-25T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.20.457130
137009 bytes
5
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The adaptive capacity of many organisms is seriously challenged by
human-imposed environmental change, which currently happens at
unprecedented rates and magnitudes. For migratory fish, habitat
fragmentation is a major challenge that can compromise their survival and
reproduction. Therefore, it is important to study if fish populations can
adapt to such modifications of their habitat. Here, we study whether
originally anadromous three-spined stickleback populations (Gasterosteus
aculeatus; ‘migrants’) changed in behavior and morphology in response to
human-induced isolation. We made use of a natural field-experiment, where
the construction of pumping stations and sluices in the 1970s unintendedly
created replicates of land-locked stickleback populations (‘resident’) in
the Netherlands. For two years, we systematically tested populations of
residents and migrants for differences in morphology and behavioral traits
(activity, aggressiveness, exploration, boldness and shoaling) in
lab-based assays. We detected differences between migrant and resident
populations in virtually all phenotypic traits studied: compared to the
ancestral migrants, residents were smaller in size, had fewer and smaller
plates and were significantly more active, aggressive, exploratory and
bolder and shoaled less. Despite large ecological differences between 2018
and 2019, results were largely consistent across the two years. Our study
shows that human-induced environmental change has led to the rapid and
consistent morphological and behavioral divergence of stickleback
populations in about 50 generations. Such changes may be adaptive but this
remains to be tested.