Ecological opportunity shapes a large Arctic charr species radiation.

ABSTRACT: Ecological opportunity is considered a crucial factor for adaptive radiation. Here, we combine genetic, morphological and ecological data to assess species and ecomorphological diversity of Artic charr in six lakes of a catchment in southernmost Greenland, where only charr and stickleback occur. Because the diversity of habitats and resources increases with lake size, we predict a positive association between lake size and the extent of ecomorphological diversity. The largest lake of the catchment harbours the largest Arctic charr assemblage known today. It consists of six genetically differentiated species belonging to five ecomorphs (anadromous, littoral benthic, profundal dwarf, planktivorous, piscivorous), of which the latter comprises two ecomorphologically extremely similar species.

SUBMITTER: Doenz CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6834057 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature