Evidence of rapid adaptive trait change to local salinity in the sperm of an invasive fish.

ABSTRACT: Invasive species may quickly colonize novel environments, which could be attributed to both phenotypic plasticity and an ability to locally adapt. Reproductive traits are expected to be under strong selection when the new environment limits reproductive success of the invading species. This may be especially important for external fertilizers, which release sperm and eggs into the new environment. Despite adult tolerance to high salinity, the invasive fish Neogobius melanostomus (round goby) is absent from fully marine regions of the Baltic Sea, raising the possibility that its distribution is limited by tolerance during earlier life stages. Here, we investigate the hypothesis that the spread of N. melanostomus is limited by sperm function in novel salinities. We sampled sper

SUBMITTER: Green L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7045711 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature