Natural Selection and Parallel Speciation in Sympatric Sticklebacks

Natural selection plays a fundamental role in most theories of speciation, but empirical evidence from the wild has been lacking. Here the post-Pleistocene radiation of threespine sticklebacks was used to infer natural selection in the origin of species. Populations of sticklebacks that evolved unde...

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Published inScience (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 287; no. 5451; pp. 306 - 308
Main Authors Rundle, Howard D., Nagel, Laura, Boughman, Janette Wenrick, Schluter, Dolph
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 14.01.2000
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science
Subjects
Adaptation, Physiological
Animals
Biodiversity
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Evolution
British Columbia
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
Ecological genetics
Environment
Evidence
Evolution
Evolutionary genetics
Female
Females
Fishes - classification
Fishes - genetics
Fishes - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gasterosteus aculeatus
Genetics
Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution
Insects
Laboratory Experiments
Male
Males
Marine
Mating behavior
Mitochondrial DNA
Natural selection
Phenotypic traits
Phylogeny
Probability
Reproduction
Reproductive isolation
Selection, Genetic
Sexual Behavior, Animal
Speciation
Statistical Significance
T tests
Wildlife observation
British Columbia
Vertebrata
Reproductive isolation
Pisces
Biological evolution
Gasterosteus aculeatus
Speciation
Adaptation
Natural selection
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Summary:Natural selection plays a fundamental role in most theories of speciation, but empirical evidence from the wild has been lacking. Here the post-Pleistocene radiation of threespine sticklebacks was used to infer natural selection in the origin of species. Populations of sticklebacks that evolved under different ecological conditions show strong reproductive isolation, whereas populations that evolved independently under similar ecological conditions lack isolation. Speciation has proceeded in this adaptive radiation in a repeatable fashion, ultimately as a consequence of adaptation to alternative environments.
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ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.287.5451.306