Positive assortative mating between recently described sympatric morphs of Icelandic sticklebacks

• Published in: Biology Letters
• Main Authors: Ólafsdóttir, Gudbjörg Á, Ritchie, Michael G, Snorrason, Sigurdur S
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 2006
• Subjects: Research Article; Iceland
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1618888; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17148375; https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2006.0456

Recently, models of sympatric speciation have suggested that assortative mating can develop between sympatric morphs due to divergence in an ecologically important character. For example, in sympatric pairs of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) size-assortative mating seems to be instrumental in reproductive isolation. Here, we examine courtship behaviour and assortative mating of newly described sympatric stickleback morphs in Lake Thingvallavatn, Iceland. We find that the two morphs show strong positive assortative mating. However, the mechanism involved in mate choice does not seem to be as straightforward as in other similar systems of sympatric stickleback morphs and may involve variation in nest type.