Impact of the huge 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami on the phenotypes and genotypes of Japanese coastal threespine stickleback populations.

ABSTRACT: On March 11, 2011, a large earthquake occurred, causing a tsunami which struck the Pacific coast of northeast Japan. We investigated the ecological and genetic effects of the large tsunami on the threespine stickleback (genus Gasterosteus) populations in Otsuchi Town, which was one of the most severely damaged areas after the tsunami. Our environmental surveys showed that spring water may have contributed to the habitat recovery. Morphological analysis of the stickleback before and after the tsunami showed morphological shifts in the gill raker number, which is a foraging trait. Genetic analyses revealed that the allelic richness of one population was maintained after the tsunami, whereas that of another decreased in 2012 and then started to recover in 2013. Additionally, we found that the

SUBMITTER: Kume M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5785970 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature