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Field-Based Thermal Physiology Assay: Cold Shock Recovery under Ambient Conditions

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Published on: March 9, 2021

Testing the predictability of morphological evolution in contrasting thermal environments.

Natalie Pilakouta^1,2, Joseph L Humble¹, Iain D C Hill^1,3

¹Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health, and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom.

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution

|January 9, 2023

Summary

Predicting population responses to climate change is crucial. This study shows divergent evolution in wild stickleback fish from contrasting thermal environments offers enhanced predictive power for climate change impacts.

Keywords:

Gasterosteus aculeatus climate change contemporary evolution geometric morphometrics parallel evolution sympatric divergence

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Resurrection of Dormant Daphnia magna: Protocol and Applications

Resurrection of Dormant Daphnia magna: Protocol and Applications

Published on: January 19, 2018

Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Climate Change Ecology

Background:

Predicting population responses to climate change is a significant scientific challenge.
Divergent evolution in natural populations offers a potential avenue for enhanced predictive power.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate morphological divergence in threespine stickleback populations from contrasting geothermal and ambient thermal environments in Iceland.
To assess the heritability of these divergent traits and factors influencing evolutionary patterns.

Main Methods:

Utilized a natural experiment comparing wild threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) populations from geothermally heated and ambient freshwater habitats.
Focused on key morphological traits and employed common garden experiments to determine heritability.
Analyzed the influence of population age and habitat sympatry/allopatry on divergence.

Main Results:

Fish from warm habitats exhibited deeper mid-bodies, subterminal jaws, steeper craniofacial profiles, and deeper caudal regions compared to those from cold habitats.
Common garden experiments confirmed that most observed morphological differences were heritable.
Similar divergence patterns were more common in allopatric populations than sympatric ones.

Conclusions:

Morphological divergence in response to thermal gradients is predictable to some extent, even when complex and multivariate.
Migration between thermal habitats can increase nonparallel evolution, potentially hindering predictions of climate change responses.