Testing for parallel allochronic isolation in lake-stream stickleback

The evolution of reproductive isolation (RI) is a critical step shaping progress towards speciation. In the context of ecological speciation, a critical question is the extent to which specific reproductive barriers important to RI evolve rapidly and predictably in response to environmental differences. Only reproductive barriers with these properties (importance, rapidity, predictability) will drive the diversification of species that are cohesively structured by environment type. One candidate barrier that might exhibit such properties is allochrony, whereby populations breed at different times. We studied six independent lake-stream population pairs of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus Linnaeus, 1758) that are known from genetic studies to show RI. However, the specific reproductive barriers driving this RI have proven elusive, leading to a 'conundrum of missing reproductive isolation'. We here show that breeding times differ among some of the populations, but not in a consistent manner between lakes and streams. Moreover, the timing differences between lake and stream populations within each pair could account for only a small proportion of total RI measured with neutral genetic markers. Allochrony cannot solve the conundrum of missing reproductive isolation in lake-stream stickleback.