Latitudinal compensation in female reproductive rate of a geographically widespread reef fish

Latitudinal variation in fitness-related traits has often been attributed to local adaptation to climates. In poikilotherms including fishes, lower temperatures and shorter reproductive seasons at high latitudes would be expected to cause a reduction in annual reproductive output of an individual. Theories of latitudinal compensation predict that organisms at high latitudes should evolve compensatory responses for these climatic effects. Therefore, latitudinal compensation in female reproductive rate (egg production rate), that individuals from high latitudes produce eggs at higher rates than those from lower latitudes, is likely to occur. I tested this hypothesis with a latitudinally widespread reef fish Pomacentrus coelestis that is a multiple batch spawner, from three different localities, from temperate to subtropical waters, within Japan. I used common-environment experiments at three different temperatures to compare reproductive capacity among local populations. In the experiments, average inter-spawning intervals were the shortest and average size-specific clutch weight was the heaviest in fish from the most northern locality across all temperatures, showing clear latitudinal clines. Thus, the northern fish can achieve higher reproductive output per unit time both by shortening inter-spawning intervals and increasing size-specific clutch weight. Additionally, faster egg production rate of the northern fish did not result from increased food consumption. This finding suggests that gross egg production efficiency was higher in the northern fish and that northern fish had a superior capacity for reproduction within a season. These results support the prediction that latitudinal compensation occurs in the female reproductive rate of P. coelestis. As the reproductive season of this species decreases drastically with increasing latitude, the observed cline in the reproductive rate must be an adaptive response to the local selective regime, i.e., length of the reproductive season. Such latitudinal compensation in female reproductive rates may be a common pattern in latitudinally widespread fishes.     

Interpopulation variation in a fish predator drives evolutionary divergence in prey in lakes

Ecological factors are known to cause evolutionary diversification. Recent work has shown that evolution in strongly interacting predator species has reciprocal impacts on ecosystems. These divergent impacts of predators may alter the selective landscape and cause the evolution of prey. Yet, this link between intraspecific variation and evolution is unexplored. We compared the life history of a species of zooplankton (Daphnia ambigua) from lakes in New England in which the dominant planktivorous predator, the alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), differs in feeding traits and migratory behaviour. Anadromous alewife (seasonal migrants) exhibit larger gapes, gill-raker spacing and target larger prey than landlocked alewife (year-round freshwater resident). In 'anadromous' lakes, Daphnia are abundant in the spring but extirpated by alewife predation in summer. Daphnia are rare year-round in 'landlocked' lakes. We show that Daphnia from lakes with anadromous alewife grew faster, matured earlier but at the same size and produced more offspring than Daphnia from lakes with landlocked or no alewife across multiple temperature and resource treatments. Our results are inconsistent with a response to size-selective predation but are better explained as an adaptation to colder temperatures and shorter periods of development (countergradient variation) mediated by seasonal alewife predation.     

Evolution of growth by genetic accommodation in Icelandic freshwater stickleback

Classical Darwinian adaptation to a change in environment can ensue when selection favours beneficial genetic variation. How plastic trait responses to new conditions affect this process depends on how plasticity reveals to selection the influence of genotype on phenotype. Genetic accommodation theory predicts that evolutionary rate may sharply increase when a new environment induces plastic responses and selects on sufficient genetic variation in those responses to produce an immediate evolutionary response, but natural examples are rare. In Iceland, marine threespine stickleback that have colonized freshwater habitats have evolved more rapid individual growth. Heritable variation in growth is greater for marine full-siblings reared at low versus high salinity, and genetic variation exists in plastic growth responses to low salinity. In fish from recently founded freshwater populations reared at low salinity, the plastic response was strongly correlated with growth. Plasticity and growth were not correlated in full-siblings reared at high salinity nor in marine fish at either salinity. In well-adapted lake populations, rapid growth evolved jointly with stronger plastic responses to low salinity and the persistence of strong plastic responses indicates that growth is not genetically assimilated. Thus, beneficial plastic growth responses to low salinity have both guided and evolved along with rapid growth as stickleback adapted to freshwater.     

Multiple origins of viviparity,or reversal from viviparity to oviparity? The European common lizard (Zootoca vivipara,Lacertidae) and the evolution of parity

The evolution of viviparity in squamates has been the focus of much scientific attention in previous years. In particular, the possibility of the transition from viviparity back to oviparity has been the subject of a vigorous debate. Some studies have suggested this reversal is more frequent than previously thought. However, none of them provide conclusive evidence. We investigated this problem by studying the phylogenetic relationships between oviparous and viviparous lineages of the reproductively bimodal lizard species Zootoca vivipara . Our results show that viviparous populations are not monophyletic, and that several evolutionary transitions in parity mode have occurred. The most parsimonious scenario involves a single origin of viviparity followed by a reversal back to oviparity. This is the first study with a strongly supported phylogenetic framework supporting a transition from viviparity to oviparity.  © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2006, 87 , 1–11.     

Egg-laying reptiles in cold climates: determinants and consequences of nest temperatures in montane lizards

Studies on reptilian life-history evolution have emphasized the role of cold climates as a selective force for the evolution of viviparity, but have tended to neglect the many cold-climate reptiles that retain oviparity. Many of these species avoid low incubation temperatures by selecting warm nest-sites, and the evolution of viviparity (by uterine retention and maternal thermoregulation) is an extension of this strategy. However, an alternative pathway exists: reptiles may adapt to low-temperature incubation rather than avoid it. The scincid lizard Nannoscincus maccoyi from high-elevation areas of south-eastern Australia follows this alternative strategy. Field studies show that Nannoscincus selects cooler oviposition sites than does the sympatric heliothermic skink Bassiana duperreyi, owing to differences in the type of cover object (log vs. rock), the size of cover object and the depth to which eggs are buried. These interspecific differences in natural incubation regimes are reflected in the responses of laboratory-incubated eggs to incubation temperature. Bassiana eggs tolerate higher temperatures than do Nannoscincus eggs, but do not develop as rapidly at low temperatures. Incubation at lower temperatures produces a larger, faster hatchling in Nannoscincus, whereas the reverse is true in Bassiana. Thus, Nannoscincus and Bassiana follow different pathways to overcome the difficulties of reproducing in cold climates. Only the Bassiana pathway is likely to be compatible with the evolution of viviparity.