Intraspecific Systematics of Gasterosteus Aculeatus Populations: Implications for Behavioral Ecology

The threespine stickleback is widespread in diverse coastal marine and freshwater habitats of the Holarctic. Extensive information on its behavior and evolution provide an exceptional background for behavioral ecology. The behavioral phenotype links studies of proximate and ultimate (evolutionary) causes of behavior. Analyses of the ultimate causes of behavior should be placed in a phylogenetic context. There have been four phases of interpretation of phenotypic variation in threespine stickleback: (1) taxonomic, (2) dispersalist-neutralist, (3) adaptationist, and (4) adaptationist-phylogenetic. Gasterosteus aculeatus should be treated as a highly variable species complex. Phylogenetic inferences based on geographical location and allozyme and nucleotide variation facilitate discrimination between ancestry and local adaptation as ultimate causes of phenotypic variation among populations. The phylogeny of threespine stickleback populations and the use of phylogenetic information to analyze causation of pelvic girdle variation among populations are reviewed. Criteria for selection of populations and behavioral traits for comparative studies are discussed.

[1]  G. Lauder.  A Model of Variability , 1995, Science.

[2]  T. Bakker,et al.  Lateral Plate Morph Genetics Revisited: Evidence for a Fourth Morph in Three-Spined Sticklebacks , 1995 .

[3]  J. Macdonald,et al.  Intertidal Breeding and Aerial Development of Embryos of a Stickleback Fish (Gasterosteus) , 1995 .

[4]  J. Macdonald,et al.  Experiments On Embryo Survivorship, Habitat Selection, and Competitive Ability of a Stickleback Fish (Gasterosteus) Which Nests in the Rocky Intertidal Zone , 1995 .

[5]  A. Zotin,et al.  Pelvic Girdle Polymorphism and Reproductive Barriers in the Ninespine Stickleback Pungitius Pungitius (L.) From Northwest Russia , 1995 .

[6]  L. Real,et al.  Behavioral Mechanisms in Evolutionary Ecology , 1995 .

[7]  D. Schluter.  Experimental Evidence That Competition Promotes Divergence in Adaptive Radiation , 1994, Science.

[8]  D. Wilson,et al.  Shyness and boldness in humans and other animals. , 1994, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[9]  J. F. Bourgeois,et al.  Multivariate analysis of geographic covariance between phenotypes and environments in the threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, from the Cook Inlet area, Alaska , 1994 .

[10]  H. Temrin,et al.  The evolution of avian mating systems: a phylogenetic analysis of male and female polygamy and length of pair bond , 1994 .

[11]  A. Meyer,et al.  GLOBAL SURVEY OF MITOCHONDRIAL DNA SEQUENCES IN THE THREESPINE STICKLEBACK: EVIDENCE FOR RECENT MIGRATIONS , 1994, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[12]  G. Ortí,et al.  Pelvic Reduction in Threespine Stickleback from Cook Inlet Lakes: Geographical Distribution and Intrapopulation Variation , 1994 .

[13]  John C. Avise,et al.  Molecular Markers, Natural History and Evolution , 1993, Springer US.

[14]  Jeffrey A. Walker,et al.  EVOLUTION OF PELVIC REDUCTION IN THREESPINE STICKLEBACK FISH: A TEST OF COMPETING HYPOTHESES , 1993, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[15]  D. A. Mclennan.  Phylogenetic relationships in the Gasterosteidae: an updated tree based on behavioral characters with a discussion of homoplasy , 1993 .

[16]  T. Reimchen,et al.  MITOCHONDRIAL DNA IN GASTEROSTEUS AND PLEISTOCENE GLACIAL REFUGIUM ON THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS, BRITISH COLUMBIA , 1993, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[17]  D. Schluter,et al.  Ecological Character Displacement and Speciation in Sticklebacks , 1992, The American Naturalist.

[18]  R. Lawson,et al.  Allozyme variation and phylogenetic relationships of Asian, North American, and European populations of the threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus , 1992 .

[19]  F. Huntingford,et al.  Inherited Population Differences in Avoidance Conditioning in Three-Spined Sticklebacks, Gasterosteus Aculeatus , 1992 .

[20]  Daniel R. Brooks,et al.  Phylogeny, Ecology, and Behavior , 1992 .

[21]  G. Vermeij.  Anatomy of an invasion: the trans-Arctic interchange , 1991, Paleobiology.

[22]  M. Pagel,et al.  The comparative method in evolutionary biology , 1991 .

[23]  D. Hagen,et al.  Breeding ecology and evidence of reproductive isolation of a widespread stickleback fish (Gasterosteidae) in Nova Scotia, Canada , 1990 .

[24]  T. Reimchen.  LOSS OF NUPTIAL COLOR IN THREESPINE STICKLEBACKS (GASTEROSTEUS ACULEATUS) , 1989, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[25]  Jeffrey V. Baumgartner,et al.  Body form differences between the Enos Lake species pair of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus complex) , 1988 .

[26]  M. Ridgway,et al.  Raiding shoal size and a distraction display in male sticklebacks (Gasterosteus) , 1988 .

[27]  J. Neigel,et al.  Intraspecific Phylogeography: The Mitochondrial DNA Bridge Between Population Genetics and Systematics , 1987 .

[28]  J. Endler.  Natural selection in the wild , 1987 .

[29]  E. Taylor,et al.  Prolonged and burst swimming in anadromous and freshwater threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus , 1986 .

[30]  T. Reimchen,et al.  Multivariate differentiation of parapatric and allopatric populations of threespine stickleback in the Sangan River watershed, Queen Charlotte Islands , 1985 .

[31]  J. Mcphail,et al.  The evolution of freshwater diversity in the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus): site-specific differentiation of trophic morphology , 1985 .

[32]  R. C. Francis,et al.  Pelvic reduction and its directional asymmetry in threespine sticklebacks from the Cook Inlet region, Alaska , 1985 .

[33]  J. Felsenstein.  Phylogenies and the Comparative Method , 1985, The American Naturalist.

[34]  J. Mcphail.  Ecology and evolution of sympatric sticklebacks (Gasterosteus): morphological and genetic evidence for a species pair in Enos Lake, British Columbia , 1984 .

[35]  T. Reimchen.  Status of Unarmoured and Spine-deficient populations (Charlotte Unarmoured Stickleback) of the Threespine Stickleback, Gasterosteus sp., on the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia , 1984, The Canadian field-naturalist.

[36]  M. Bell.  Gigantism in threespine stickle-backs: implications for causation of body size evolution , 1984 .

[37]  J. Anderson,et al.  Geographic Variation in the Gillrakers and Diet of European Threespine Sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus , 1984 .

[38]  F. Huntingford,et al.  Predation risk and inter-population variation in antipredator behaviour in the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus L. , 1984, Animal Behaviour.

[39]  F. Huntingford.  Do inter- and intraspecific aggression vary in relation to predation pressure in sticklebacks? , 1982, Animal Behaviour.

[40]  J. L. Gould.  Ethology: The Mechanisms and Evolution of Behavior , 1982 .

[41]  J. Oakeshott,et al.  ALCOHOL DEHYDROGENASE AND GLYCEROL‐3‐PHOSPHATE DEHYDROGENASE CLINES IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER ON DIFFERENT CONTINENTS , 1982, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[42]  G. Corbet.  Splendid Isolation: The Curious History of South American Mammals , by George Gaylord Simpson. Yale University Press, £11. , 1980, Oryx.

[43]  P. F. Moodie,et al.  POLYMORPHISM FOR BREEDING COLORS IN GASTEROSTEUS ACULEATUS II. REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS AS A RESULT OF CONVERGENCE FOR THREAT DISPLAY , 1980, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[44]  D. Hopkins,et al.  Arctic Oceanic Climate in Late Cenozoic Time , 1980, Science.

[45]  D. Hagen,et al.  POLYMORPHISM FOR BREEDING COLORS IN GASTEROSTEUS ACULEATUS. I. THEIR GENETICS AND GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION , 1979, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[46]  R. Wootton.  The biology of the sticklebacks , 1978 .

[47]  M. Bell.  Evolution of Phenotypic Diversity in Gasterosteus Aculeatus Superspecies on the Pacific Coast of North America , 1976 .

[48]  T. Reimchen,et al.  Phenetic Variation and Habitat Differences in Gasterosteus Populations of the Queen Charlotte Islands , 1976 .

[49]  M. Bell.  Reduction and loss of the pelvic girdle in Gasterosteus (pisces): a case of parallel evolution , 1974, Contributions in science.

[50]  D. Hagen,et al.  Selective predation and the intensity of selection acting upon the lateral plates of threespine sticklebacks , 1973, Heredity.

[51]  D. Hagen.  Inheritance of numbers of lateral plates and gill rakers in Gasterosteus aculeatus , 1973, Heredity.

[52]  R. Selander,et al.  Evolution in the House Sparrow. III. Variation in Size and Sexual Dimorphism in Europe and North and South America , 1973, The American Naturalist.

[53]  D. Hagen,et al.  GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL SELECTION IN GASTEROSTEUS ACULEATUS L. IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, AMERICA , 1972, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[54]  J. S. Nelson.  Absence of the Pelvic Complex in Ninespine Sticklebacks, Pungitius pungitius, Collected in Ireland and Wood Buffalo National Park Region, Canada, with Notes on Meristic Variation , 1971 .

[55]  J. S. Nelson,et al.  Georgraphic and morphological variation in the presence and absence of the pelvic skeleton in the brook stickleback, Culaea inconstans (Kirtland), in Alberta and Saskatchewan. , 1971, Canadian journal of zoology.

[56]  J. Mcphail,et al.  The Species Problem within Gasterosteus aculeatus on the Pacific Coast of North America , 1970 .

[57]  J. Mcphail.  Predation and the Evolution of a Stickleback (Gasterosteus) , 1969 .

[58]  Robert R. Miller,et al.  Systematics of Gasterosteus aculeatus, with Particular Reference to Intergradation and Introgression along the Pacific Coast of North America: A Commentary on a Recent Contribution' , 1969 .

[59]  Allen Keast,et al.  Australian Mammals: Zoogeography and Evolution , 1968, The Quarterly Review of Biology.

[60]  D. Hagen.  Isolating Mechanisms in Threespine Sticklebacks (Gasterosteus) , 1967 .

[61]  C. C. Lindsey.  EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF MERISTIC VARIATION IN A POPULATION OF THREESPINE STICKLEBACKS, GASTEROSTEUS ACULEATUS , 1962 .

[62]  M. Heuts.  EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON ADAPTIVE EVOLUTION IN GASTEROSTEUS ACULEATUS L. , 1947 .

[63]  C. Hubbs.  The Atlantic American species of the fish genus Gasterosteus , 1929 .