Negative assortative mating and maintenance of shell colour polymorphism in Littorina (Neritrema) species
(2021) In Marine Biology 168(10).- Abstract
Colour polymorphism is a widespread phenomenon in natural populations of several species. In particular, it is especially common on marine gastropod species from the genus Littorina. Recently, it has been argued that intrapopulation shell colour polymorphism in Littorina fabalis could be caused by negative frequency-dependent sexual selection via a mechanism of mate choice (indirectly estimated through negative assortative mating). Here we try to determine the existence of negative assortative mating in three species of the subgenus Neritrema (L. fabalis, L. obtusata, L. saxatilis) that share a similar shell colour polymorphism, to ascertain if this mechanism could represent an ancestral character in this subgenus that could be... (More)
Colour polymorphism is a widespread phenomenon in natural populations of several species. In particular, it is especially common on marine gastropod species from the genus Littorina. Recently, it has been argued that intrapopulation shell colour polymorphism in Littorina fabalis could be caused by negative frequency-dependent sexual selection via a mechanism of mate choice (indirectly estimated through negative assortative mating). Here we try to determine the existence of negative assortative mating in three species of the subgenus Neritrema (L. fabalis, L. obtusata, L. saxatilis) that share a similar shell colour polymorphism, to ascertain if this mechanism could represent an ancestral character in this subgenus that could be contributing to the maintenance of the colour polymorphism observed in each species. We collected or reanalysed from previous studies a sample of mating pairs of these three species from seven locations from NW Spain and NE Russia and estimated assortative mating using the IPSI index. Our results suggest that all species and populations show a systematic tendency towards negative assortative mating when shell colour is grouped in the broad categories ‘light’ and ‘dark’. Moreover, a more detailed analysis of each colour separately suggests that shell colour may not be the main target of assortative mating, but perhaps a physically-linked trait to the real target of selection. This hypothesis opens interesting new lines of research in Littorina snails.
(Less)
- author
- publishing date
- 2021-10
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- in
- Marine Biology
- volume
- 168
- issue
- 10
- article number
- 151
- publisher
- Springer Science and Business Media B.V.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85115170453
- ISSN
- 0025-3162
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00227-021-03959-z
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
- id
- 808a6638-636e-48f3-b07d-ce675c65db25
- date added to LUP
- 2025-01-27 13:57:42
- date last changed
- 2025-02-03 15:59:29
@article{808a6638-636e-48f3-b07d-ce675c65db25,
abstract = {{<p>Colour polymorphism is a widespread phenomenon in natural populations of several species. In particular, it is especially common on marine gastropod species from the genus Littorina. Recently, it has been argued that intrapopulation shell colour polymorphism in Littorina fabalis could be caused by negative frequency-dependent sexual selection via a mechanism of mate choice (indirectly estimated through negative assortative mating). Here we try to determine the existence of negative assortative mating in three species of the subgenus Neritrema (L. fabalis, L. obtusata, L. saxatilis) that share a similar shell colour polymorphism, to ascertain if this mechanism could represent an ancestral character in this subgenus that could be contributing to the maintenance of the colour polymorphism observed in each species. We collected or reanalysed from previous studies a sample of mating pairs of these three species from seven locations from NW Spain and NE Russia and estimated assortative mating using the I<sub>PSI</sub> index. Our results suggest that all species and populations show a systematic tendency towards negative assortative mating when shell colour is grouped in the broad categories ‘light’ and ‘dark’. Moreover, a more detailed analysis of each colour separately suggests that shell colour may not be the main target of assortative mating, but perhaps a physically-linked trait to the real target of selection. This hypothesis opens interesting new lines of research in Littorina snails.</p>}},
author = {{Gefaell, J. and Galindo, J. and Malvido, C. and Núñez, V. and Estévez, D. and Blanco, S. and González-Conde, M. and Martínez-Domínguez, S. and Novo, I. and Pérez-Fernández, G. and Rus, A. and Mosconi, I. and Rolán-Alvarez, E.}},
issn = {{0025-3162}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{10}},
publisher = {{Springer Science and Business Media B.V.}},
series = {{Marine Biology}},
title = {{Negative assortative mating and maintenance of shell colour polymorphism in Littorina (Neritrema) species}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03959-z}},
doi = {{10.1007/s00227-021-03959-z}},
volume = {{168}},
year = {{2021}},
}