How to translate text using browser tools
1 June 2009 Background Matching and Color-Change Plasticity in Colonizing Freshwater Sculpin Populations Following Rapid Deglaciation
Andrew R. Whiteley, Scott M. Gende, Anthony J. Gharrett, David A. Tallmon
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Anthropogenic-induced change is forcing organisms to shift their distributions and colonize novel habitats at an increasing rate, which leads to complex interactions among evolutionary processes. Coastrange sculpin (Cottus aleuticus) have colonized recently deglaciated streams of Glacier Bay in Alaska within the last 220 years. We examined divergence among populations in background matching coloration and tested the hypothesis that observed variation is due to morphological color plasticity. To examine how color-change plasticity has interacted with other evolutionary processes, we also determined the influence of colonization on neutral genetic diversity. We observed clinal variation in substrate-matching fish color along the chronological continuum of streams. Microsatellites provided little evidence of genetic subdivision among sculpin populations. Fish color was significantly correlated to substrate color, but was not correlated to neutral population genetic structure. Furthermore, a laboratory experiment revealed that morphological color plasticity could explain much, but not all, of the observed fish color divergence. Our study demonstrates that sculpin in Glacier Bay have colonized and adapted to recently deglaciated habitat and suggests that color change plasticity has aided in this process. This research, therefore, highlights the important role phenotypic plasticity may play in the adaptation of species to rapid climate change.

© 2009 The Society for the Study of Evolution.
Andrew R. Whiteley, Scott M. Gende, Anthony J. Gharrett, and David A. Tallmon "Background Matching and Color-Change Plasticity in Colonizing Freshwater Sculpin Populations Following Rapid Deglaciation," Evolution 63(6), 1519-1529, (1 June 2009). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00627.x
Received: 6 March 2008; Accepted: 1 December 2008; Published: 1 June 2009
JOURNAL ARTICLE
11 PAGES

This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
+ SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

KEYWORDS
Adaptation
climate change
colonization
gene flow
glacial recession
phenotypic plasticity
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top