Heritable morphology-environment correlations among lake populations of threespine stickleback

Abstract

Phenotypic differences among populations can arise through heritable genetic divergence, phenotypic plasticity, or both, making it difficult to determine whether trait-environment correlations observed in nature reflect adaptive evolution. Within threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) studies, numerous document morphological differences among allopatric-, parapatric-, and even sympatric populations. These phenotypic differences among populations are often correlated with diet and lake habitat (e.g., lake size), suggesting an adaptive value to the population differences. However, many studies of ecomorphological divergence in stickleback use wild-caught stickleback, which may differ due to evolution or plasticity. Although common garden experiments have confirmed that population differences can be heritable, such experiments typically entail small numbers of populations. Consequently, we still do not know to what extent well-known trait-environment correlations in stickleback are a result of evolution. To address this gap, we reared stickleback embryos from 27 lake populations on Vancouver Island, in a laboratory environment. Morphological differences among populations persist in common-garden fish, confirming a large role for divergent evolution. These heritable differences were associated with environmental variation among lakes, implying an adaptive value. However, some well-known trait-environment relationships in stickleback did not persist in common-garden fish and may be primarily plastic.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{yeung2026heritable,
  title = {{Heritable morphology-environment correlations among lake populations of threespine stickleback}},
  author = {A. Yeung and B. A. Flanagan and H. Alexander and E. Choi and J. Berini and A. Albright and C. Szajda and N. Vargas and J. Flanagan and E. R. Contreras and P. Cooper and M. Shahid and P. R. Steffen and F. Gilani and A. Santacruz and V. Watts and E. Polard and K. Rochon and E. Redfield and J. Hite and A. K. Hund and D. I. Bolnick},
  howpublished = {bioRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.64898/2026.08.20.745995},
  url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.20.745995v2},
  note = {CC BY},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Heritable morphology-environment correlations among lake populations of threespine stickleback
AU  - A. Yeung
AU  - B. A. Flanagan
AU  - H. Alexander
AU  - E. Choi
AU  - J. Berini
AU  - A. Albright
AU  - C. Szajda
AU  - N. Vargas
AU  - J. Flanagan
AU  - E. R. Contreras
AU  - P. Cooper
AU  - M. Shahid
AU  - P. R. Steffen
AU  - F. Gilani
AU  - A. Santacruz
AU  - V. Watts
AU  - E. Polard
AU  - K. Rochon
AU  - E. Redfield
AU  - J. Hite
AU  - A. K. Hund
AU  - D. I. Bolnick
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/20
PB  - bioRxiv
DO  - 10.64898/2026.08.20.745995
UR  - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.20.745995v2
AB  - Phenotypic differences among populations can arise through heritable genetic divergence, phenotypic plasticity, or both, making it difficult to determine whether trait-environment correlations observed in nature reflect adaptive evolution. Within threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) studies, numerous document morphological differences among allopatric-, parapatric-, and even sympatric populations. These phenotypic differences among populations are often correlated with diet and lake habitat (e.g., lake size), suggesting an adaptive value to the population differences. However, many studies of ecomorphological divergence in stickleback use wild-caught stickleback, which may differ due to evolution or plasticity. Although common garden experiments have confirmed that population differences can be heritable, such experiments typically entail small numbers of populations. Consequently, we still do not know to what extent well-known trait-environment correlations in stickleback are a result of evolution. To address this gap, we reared stickleback embryos from 27 lake populations on Vancouver Island, in a laboratory environment. Morphological differences among populations persist in common-garden fish, confirming a large role for divergent evolution. These heritable differences were associated with environmental variation among lakes, implying an adaptive value. However, some well-known trait-environment relationships in stickleback did not persist in common-garden fish and may be primarily plastic.
ER  -

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