Repeated lake-stream divergence in stickleback life history within a Central European lake basin

Life history divergence between populations inhabiting ecologically distinct habitats might be a potent source of reproductive isolation, but has received little attention in the context of speciation. We here test for life history divergence between threespine stickleback inhabiting Lake Constance (Central Europe) and multiple tributary streams. Otolith analysis shows that lake fish generally reproduce at two years of age, while their conspecifics in all streams have shifted to a primarily annual life cycle. This divergence is paralleled by a striking and consistent reduction in body size and fecundity in stream fish relative to lake fish. Stomach content analysis suggests that life history divergence might reflect a genetic or plastic response to pelagic versus benthic foraging modes in the lake and the streams. Microsatellite and mitochondrial markers further reveal that life history shifts in the different streams have occurred independently following the colonization by Lake Constance stickleback, and indicate the presence of strong barriers to gene flow across at least some of the lake-stream habitat transitions. Given that body size is known to strongly influence stickleback mating behavior, these barriers might well be related to life history divergence.