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Projekt Druckansicht

Interactive effects of environmental change and host-parasite co-evolution on the ecological speciation of sticklebacks

Mitantragsteller Dr. Blake Matthews
Fachliche Zuordnung Ökologie und Biodiversität der Tiere und Ökosysteme, Organismische Interaktionen
Förderung Förderung von 2012 bis 2016
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 208746448
 
Erstellungsjahr 2017

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

Parasites are a ubiquitous selection pressure in nature. They can drive rapid evolution and divergence of host populations, with the potential to culminate in speciation events. At the same time, they can maintain polymorphism within populations. Besides these direct effects on their host, parasites can affect whole ecosystems, making them a strong link between ecological and evolutionary dynamics. These diverse parasite effects are further altered by environmental conditions which can modify the outcome of host-parasite interactions severely. Modifications of parasite-mediated selection pressures can ultimately change evolutionary trajectories and affect the progression towards speciation of host populations. Along this project we characterized ways in which environmental change may affect parasite mediated aspects of host speciation, using the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus and its parasites as a model system. Using field studies we revealed that eutrophication is associated with different phenotypes and gene expression profiles of the fish. However, under natural condition it is impossible to disentangle the cause and consequences of those traits. Therefore we conducted a series of mesocom experiments and found that both parasites and eutrophication alter feeding ecology and have consequences on the resistance and tolerance capacity of the fish. Furthermore, we demonstrated that those effects that are strong that fish modify the environment they live in, creating new selection pressure for their offspring. With this work, we reveal that the sole presence of parasites is sufficient for eco-evolutionary feedbacks to emerge. Focusing on sexual selection, we found that mating with infected males has costs but also benefits if the parasites experienced by the offspring are the same as the ones experienced by their parents. From the an evolutionary perspective, the combine work on natural and sexual selection reveal that parasites contribute to adaptive divergence of the three-spined stickleback but eutrophication slows down this process.

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

 
 

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