Human-caused habitat fragmentation can drive rapid divergence of male genitalia.

ABSTRACT: The aim of this study rests on three premises: (i) humans are altering ecosystems worldwide, (ii) environmental variation often influences the strength and nature of sexual selection, and (iii) sexual selection is largely responsible for rapid and divergent evolution of male genitalia. While each of these assertions has strong empirical support, no study has yet investigated their logical conclusion that human impacts on the environment might commonly drive rapid diversification of male genital morphology. We tested whether anthropogenic habitat fragmentation has resulted in rapid changes in the size, allometry, shape, and meristics of male genitalia in three native species of livebearing fishes (genus: Gambusia) inhabiting tidal creeks across six Bahamian islands. We found that genital sh

SUBMITTER: Heinen-Kay JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4275096 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature