Is size-assortative mating important for rapid pigment differentiation in a freshwater isopod?
(2006) In Journal of evolutionary biology 19(6). p.1911-1919- Abstract
- Identifying mechanisms behind assortative mating is central to the understanding of ecological divergence and speciation. Recent studies show that populations of the freshwater isopod Asellus aquaticus can rapidly become locally differentiated when submerged Chara vegetation expands in lakes. In the novel Chara habitat, isopods have become lighter pigmented and smaller than in ancestral reed stands. In this study, we used a laboratory multiple-choice experiment to investigate assortative mating as a possible prezygotic reproductive barrier between Chara and reed isopods. Mating was assortative when Chara isopods were experimentally mixed with isopods from an adjacent reed site with large-size individuals, suggesting a partial prezygotic... (More)
- Identifying mechanisms behind assortative mating is central to the understanding of ecological divergence and speciation. Recent studies show that populations of the freshwater isopod Asellus aquaticus can rapidly become locally differentiated when submerged Chara vegetation expands in lakes. In the novel Chara habitat, isopods have become lighter pigmented and smaller than in ancestral reed stands. In this study, we used a laboratory multiple-choice experiment to investigate assortative mating as a possible prezygotic reproductive barrier between Chara and reed isopods. Mating was assortative when Chara isopods were experimentally mixed with isopods from an adjacent reed site with large-size individuals, suggesting a partial prezygotic reproductive barrier. No deviation from random mating could, however, be detected when Chara isopods were mixed with smaller sized isopods from another reed site. In both experiments, assortative mating was apparently based on size, as Chara isopods were larger and reed isopods smaller in mixed pairs than in assortative pairs. Pigmentation did not have any clear influence on mating. We suggest that divergence in pigmentation evolved through natural selection in conjunction with size-assortative mating indirectly causing assortative mating between Chara and reed isopods. Size-assortative mating is likely a by-product of natural selection, but its importance may hypothetically be transient, if selection erodes the correlation between pigmentation and size over time. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/162809
- author
- Hargeby, Anders LU and Erlandsson, J
- organization
- publishing date
- 2006
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Journal of evolutionary biology
- volume
- 19
- issue
- 6
- pages
- 1911 - 1919
- publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000241243100018
- scopus:33750007845
- ISSN
- 1420-9101
- DOI
- 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2006.01170.x
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Limnology (Closed 2011) (011007000)
- id
- 79d8cce4-edeb-465a-b41b-ae683733e781 (old id 162809)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 11:36:15
- date last changed
- 2022-01-26 07:31:52
@article{79d8cce4-edeb-465a-b41b-ae683733e781,
abstract = {{Identifying mechanisms behind assortative mating is central to the understanding of ecological divergence and speciation. Recent studies show that populations of the freshwater isopod Asellus aquaticus can rapidly become locally differentiated when submerged Chara vegetation expands in lakes. In the novel Chara habitat, isopods have become lighter pigmented and smaller than in ancestral reed stands. In this study, we used a laboratory multiple-choice experiment to investigate assortative mating as a possible prezygotic reproductive barrier between Chara and reed isopods. Mating was assortative when Chara isopods were experimentally mixed with isopods from an adjacent reed site with large-size individuals, suggesting a partial prezygotic reproductive barrier. No deviation from random mating could, however, be detected when Chara isopods were mixed with smaller sized isopods from another reed site. In both experiments, assortative mating was apparently based on size, as Chara isopods were larger and reed isopods smaller in mixed pairs than in assortative pairs. Pigmentation did not have any clear influence on mating. We suggest that divergence in pigmentation evolved through natural selection in conjunction with size-assortative mating indirectly causing assortative mating between Chara and reed isopods. Size-assortative mating is likely a by-product of natural selection, but its importance may hypothetically be transient, if selection erodes the correlation between pigmentation and size over time.}},
author = {{Hargeby, Anders and Erlandsson, J}},
issn = {{1420-9101}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{6}},
pages = {{1911--1919}},
publisher = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
series = {{Journal of evolutionary biology}},
title = {{Is size-assortative mating important for rapid pigment differentiation in a freshwater isopod?}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2006.01170.x}},
doi = {{10.1111/j.1420-9101.2006.01170.x}},
volume = {{19}},
year = {{2006}},
}