Ecological speciation in European whitefish is driven by a large-gaped predator

Öhlund, Gunnar; Bodin, Mats; Nilsson, Karin; Öhlund, Sven-Ola; Mobley, Kenyon B.; Hudson, Alan G.; Peedu, Mikael; Brännström, Åke; Bartels, Pia; Præbel, Kim; Hein, Catherine L.; Johansson, Petter; Englund, Göran

doi:10.1002/evl3.167

Cited by 19 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…Since these ecological interactions change during development, development has the potential to affect the conditions for speciation. Predation pressure or artificial harvesting, for example, is often size-specific [11] and can drive evolutionary diversification in maturation size [12,13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition among small individuals hinders adaptive radiation despite ecological opportunity

Brink

Seehausen

2022

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Ontogenetic diet shifts, where individuals change their resource use during development, are the rule rather than the exception in the animal world. Here, we aim to understand how such changes in diet during development affect the conditions for an adaptive radiation in the presence of ecological opportunity. We use a size-structured consumer–resource model and the adaptive dynamics approach to study the ecological conditions for speciation. We assume that small individuals all feed on a shared resource. Large individuals, on the other hand, have access to multiple food sources on which they can specialize. We find that competition among small individuals can hinder an adaptive radiation to unfold, despite plenty of ecological opportunity for large individuals. When small individuals experience strong competition for food, they grow slowly and only a few individuals are recruited to the larger size classes. Hence, competition for food among large individuals is weak and there is therefore no disruptive selection. In addition, initial conditions determine if an adaptive radiation occurs or not. A consumer population initially dominated by small individuals will not radiate. On the other hand, a population initially dominated by large individuals may undergo adaptive radiation and diversify into multiple species.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition among small individuals hinders adaptive radiation despite ecological opportunity

Brink

Seehausen

2022

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…While resource specialization in response to habitat heterogeneity can promote adaptive divergence, a reduction in gene flow between habitats is required for progress toward ecological speciation or the maintenance of genetically divergent phenotypes (Kulmuni et al, 2020;Öhlund et al, 2020;Rundle & Nosil, 2005;Smadja & Butlin, 2011). Rapid shifts in habitat divergence can strongly increase the degree of reproductive isolation between diverging subpopulations (Muschick et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The interaction of resource use and gene flow on the phenotypic divergence of benthic and pelagic morphs of Icelandic Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus)

Brachmann

Parsons

Skúlason

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Conceptual models of adaptive divergence and ecological speciation in sympatry predict differential resource use, phenotype–environment correlations, and reduced gene flow among diverging phenotypes. While these predictions have been assessed in past studies, connections among them have rarely been assessed collectively. We examined relationships among phenotypic, ecological, and genetic variation in Arctic charr ( Salvelinus alpinus ) from six Icelandic localities that have undergone varying degrees of divergence into sympatric benthic and pelagic morphs. We characterized morphological variation with geometric morphometrics, tested for differential resource use between morphs using stable isotopes, and inferred the amount of gene flow from single nucleotide polymorphisms. Analysis of stable isotopic signatures indicated that sympatric morphs showed similar difference in resource use across populations, likely arising from the common utilization of niche space within each population. Carbon isotopic signature was also a significant predictor of individual variation in body shape and size, suggesting that variation in benthic and pelagic resource use is associated with phenotypic variation. The estimated percentage of hybrids between sympatric morphs varied across populations (from 0% to 15.6%) but the majority of fish had genotypes (ancestry coefficients) characteristic of pure morphs. Despite evidence of reduced gene flow between sympatric morphs, we did not detect the expected negative relationship between divergence in resource use and gene flow. Three lakes showed the expected pattern, but morphs in the fourth showed no detectable hybridization and had relatively low differences in resource use between them. This coupled with the finding that resource use and genetic differentiation had differential effects on body shape variation across populations suggests that reproductive isolation maintains phenotypic divergence between benthic and pelagic morphs when the effects of resource use are relatively low. Our ability to assess relationships between phenotype, ecology, and genetics deepens our understanding of the processes underlying adaptive divergence in sympatry.

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“…An abundant comparative material on the ontogeny deviations is represented by the fishes invaded into the newly formed lacustrine ecosystems [9]. Although research on the factors underpinning the origin of the ecologically and morphologically different species/morphs of lacustrine fishes has been extensive and fruitful recently, many environmental predictions regarding the drivers of adaptive radiation still remain unverified [10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ambient temperature as a factor contributing to the developmental divergence in sympatric salmonids

et al. 2021

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Factors and mechanisms promoting resource-based radiation in animals still represent a main challenge to evolutionary biology. The modifications of phenotype tied with adaptive diversification may result from an environmentally related shift having occurred at the early stage of development. Here, we study the role of temperature dynamics on the reproductive sites in the early-life divergence and adaptive radiation of the salmonid fish Salvelinus malma dwelling in the Lake Kronotskoe basin (North-East Asia). Local sympatric charr ecomorphs demonstrate strict homing behaviour guiding the preordained distribution along tributaries and, hence, further development under different temperatures. We thoroughly assessed the annual temperature dynamics at the spawning grounds of each morph as compared to an ancestral anadromous morph. Then we carried out an experimental rearing of both under naturally diverging and uniformed temperatures. To compare the morphs’ development under the dynamically changing temperatures, we have designed a method based on calculating the accumulated heat by the Arrhenius equation. The proposed equation shows a strong predictive power and, at the same time, is not bias-susceptible when the developmental temperature approximates 0°C. The temperature was found to significantly affect the charrs’ early ontogeny, which underlies the divergence of developmental and growth rates between the morphs, as well as morph-specific ontogenetic adaptations to the spawning site’s temperatures. As opposed to the endemic morphs from Lake Kronotskoe, the anadromous S. malma, being unexposed to selection оn highly specific reproduction conditions, showed a wide temperature tolerance, Our findings demonstrate that the hatch, onset timing of external feeding, and size dissimilarities between the sympatric morphs reveal themselves during the development under contrast temperatures. As a result of the observed developmental disparities, the morphs occupy specific definitive foraging niches in the lake.

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Ecological speciation in European whitefish is driven by a large-gaped predator

Cited by 19 publications

References 77 publications

Competition among small individuals hinders adaptive radiation despite ecological opportunity

Competition among small individuals hinders adaptive radiation despite ecological opportunity

The interaction of resource use and gene flow on the phenotypic divergence of benthic and pelagic morphs of Icelandic Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus)

Ambient temperature as a factor contributing to the developmental divergence in sympatric salmonids

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