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Related Experiment Videos

Frequency dependent natural selection during character displacement in sticklebacks.

Dolph Schluter1

  • 1Zoology Department and Centre for Biodiversity Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4 Canada. schluter@zoology.ubc.ca

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|July 3, 2003
PubMed
Summary

When a new species arrives, natural selection shifts based on which phenotypes are most common. Stickleback fish showed altered growth and survival, supporting character displacement and divergence in mortality risk.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Ecology
  • Behavioral Ecology

Background:

  • Natural selection dynamics are poorly understood when competing species overlap.
  • Character displacement is a key evolutionary process driven by competition.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate frequency-dependent natural selection in sticklebacks.
  • To test how introducing a competing species affects phenotype distribution and survival.

Main Methods:

  • Pond experiment using threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus).
  • Introduced either limnetic or benthic stickleback species to target populations.
  • Monitored differential growth and survival of target population phenotypes.

Main Results:

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  • Phenotype growth rates diverged as predicted by character displacement theory.
  • Phenotypes most resembling the introduced species were most impacted.
  • Survival differences indicated an inshore-offshore mortality gradient, not solely resource competition.

Conclusions:

  • Competition drives character displacement and phenotypic divergence in sticklebacks.
  • Resource competition also influences vulnerability to mortality agents like predation.
  • Sympatric species interactions shape evolutionary trajectories and ecological niches.