Fine scale diversity in the lava: genetic and phenotypic diversity in small populations of Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus
Abstract Background A major goal in evolutionary biology is to understand the processes underlying phenotypic variation in nature. Commonly, studies have focused on large interconnected populations or populations found along strong environmental gradients. However, studies on small fragmented popula...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:07baa0b4e748439b87a9fed25c3b229e 2024-09-15T17:52:24+00:00 Fine scale diversity in the lava: genetic and phenotypic diversity in small populations of Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus Camille A. Leblanc Katja Räsänen Michael Morrissey Skúli Skúlason Moira Ferguson Bjarni K. Kristjánsson 2024-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02232-3 https://doaj.org/article/07baa0b4e748439b87a9fed25c3b229e EN eng BMC https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02232-3 https://doaj.org/toc/2730-7182 doi:10.1186/s12862-024-02232-3 2730-7182 https://doaj.org/article/07baa0b4e748439b87a9fed25c3b229e BMC Ecology and Evolution, Vol 24, Iss 1, Pp 1-19 (2024) Small population size Neutral processes Drift Phenotypic variation Morphology Lava cave Ecology QH540-549.5 Evolution QH359-425 article 2024 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02232-3 2024-08-05T17:49:34Z Abstract Background A major goal in evolutionary biology is to understand the processes underlying phenotypic variation in nature. Commonly, studies have focused on large interconnected populations or populations found along strong environmental gradients. However, studies on small fragmented populations can give strong insight into evolutionary processes in relation to discrete ecological factors. Evolution in small populations is believed to be dominated by stochastic processes, but recent work shows that small populations can also display adaptive phenotypic variation, through for example plasticity and rapid adaptive evolution. Such evolution takes place even though there are strong signs of historical bottlenecks and genetic drift. Here we studied 24 small populations of the freshwater fish Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) found in groundwater filled lava caves. Those populations were found within a few km2-area with no apparent water connections between them. We studied the relative contribution of neutral versus non-neutral evolutionary processes in shaping phenotypic divergence, by contrasting patterns of phenotypic and neutral genetic divergence across populations in relation to environmental measurements. This allowed us to model the proportion of phenotypic variance explained by the environment, taking in to account the observed neutral genetic structure. Results These populations originated from the nearby Lake Mývatn, and showed small population sizes with low genetic diversity. Phenotypic variation was mostly correlated with neutral genetic diversity with only a small environmental effect. Conclusions Phenotypic diversity in these cave populations appears to be largely the product of neutral processes, fitting the classical evolutionary expectations. However, the fact that neutral processes did not explain fully the phenotypic patterns suggests that further studies can increase our understanding on how neutral evolutionary processes can interact with other forces of selection at early stages of ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic charr Mývatn Salvelinus alpinus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles BMC Ecology and Evolution 24 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Small population size Neutral processes Drift Phenotypic variation Morphology Lava cave Ecology QH540-549.5 Evolution QH359-425 |
spellingShingle |
Small population size Neutral processes Drift Phenotypic variation Morphology Lava cave Ecology QH540-549.5 Evolution QH359-425 Camille A. Leblanc Katja Räsänen Michael Morrissey Skúli Skúlason Moira Ferguson Bjarni K. Kristjánsson Fine scale diversity in the lava: genetic and phenotypic diversity in small populations of Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus |
topic_facet |
Small population size Neutral processes Drift Phenotypic variation Morphology Lava cave Ecology QH540-549.5 Evolution QH359-425 |
description |
Abstract Background A major goal in evolutionary biology is to understand the processes underlying phenotypic variation in nature. Commonly, studies have focused on large interconnected populations or populations found along strong environmental gradients. However, studies on small fragmented populations can give strong insight into evolutionary processes in relation to discrete ecological factors. Evolution in small populations is believed to be dominated by stochastic processes, but recent work shows that small populations can also display adaptive phenotypic variation, through for example plasticity and rapid adaptive evolution. Such evolution takes place even though there are strong signs of historical bottlenecks and genetic drift. Here we studied 24 small populations of the freshwater fish Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) found in groundwater filled lava caves. Those populations were found within a few km2-area with no apparent water connections between them. We studied the relative contribution of neutral versus non-neutral evolutionary processes in shaping phenotypic divergence, by contrasting patterns of phenotypic and neutral genetic divergence across populations in relation to environmental measurements. This allowed us to model the proportion of phenotypic variance explained by the environment, taking in to account the observed neutral genetic structure. Results These populations originated from the nearby Lake Mývatn, and showed small population sizes with low genetic diversity. Phenotypic variation was mostly correlated with neutral genetic diversity with only a small environmental effect. Conclusions Phenotypic diversity in these cave populations appears to be largely the product of neutral processes, fitting the classical evolutionary expectations. However, the fact that neutral processes did not explain fully the phenotypic patterns suggests that further studies can increase our understanding on how neutral evolutionary processes can interact with other forces of selection at early stages of ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Camille A. Leblanc Katja Räsänen Michael Morrissey Skúli Skúlason Moira Ferguson Bjarni K. Kristjánsson |
author_facet |
Camille A. Leblanc Katja Räsänen Michael Morrissey Skúli Skúlason Moira Ferguson Bjarni K. Kristjánsson |
author_sort |
Camille A. Leblanc |
title |
Fine scale diversity in the lava: genetic and phenotypic diversity in small populations of Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus |
title_short |
Fine scale diversity in the lava: genetic and phenotypic diversity in small populations of Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus |
title_full |
Fine scale diversity in the lava: genetic and phenotypic diversity in small populations of Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus |
title_fullStr |
Fine scale diversity in the lava: genetic and phenotypic diversity in small populations of Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fine scale diversity in the lava: genetic and phenotypic diversity in small populations of Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus |
title_sort |
fine scale diversity in the lava: genetic and phenotypic diversity in small populations of arctic charr salvelinus alpinus |
publisher |
BMC |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02232-3 https://doaj.org/article/07baa0b4e748439b87a9fed25c3b229e |
genre |
Arctic charr Mývatn Salvelinus alpinus |
genre_facet |
Arctic charr Mývatn Salvelinus alpinus |
op_source |
BMC Ecology and Evolution, Vol 24, Iss 1, Pp 1-19 (2024) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02232-3 https://doaj.org/toc/2730-7182 doi:10.1186/s12862-024-02232-3 2730-7182 https://doaj.org/article/07baa0b4e748439b87a9fed25c3b229e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02232-3 |
container_title |
BMC Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
24 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1810294441673490432 |