Adaptive phenotypic plasticity contributes to divergence between lake and river populations of an East African cichlid fish.

ABSTRACT: Adaptive phenotypic plasticity and fixed genotypic differences have long been considered opposing strategies in adaptation. More recently, these mechanisms have been proposed to act complementarily and under certain conditions jointly facilitate evolution, speciation, and even adaptive radiations. Here, we investigate the relative contributions of adaptive phenotypic plasticity vs. local adaptation to fitness, using an emerging model system to study early phases of adaptive divergence, the generalist cichlid fish species Astatotilapia burtoni. We tested direct fitness consequences of morphological divergence between lake and river populations in nature by performing two transplant experiments in Lake Tanganyika. In the first experiment, we used wild-caught juvenile lake and r

SUBMITTER: Rajkov J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6106192 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature