Genetic variation in life-history reaction norms in a marine fish

Neither the scale of adaptive variation nor the genetic basis for differential population responses to the environment is known for broadcast-spawning marine fishes. Using a common-garden experimental protocol, we document how larval growth, survival and their norms of reaction differ genetically am...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Biological sciences, 2007-07, Vol.274 (1619), p.1693-1699
Main Authors: Hutchings, Jeffrey A, Swain, Douglas P, Rowe, Sherrylynn, Eddington, James D, Puvanendran, Velmurugu, Brown, Joseph A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acclimatization - genetics
Analysis of Variance
Animals
Atlantic Cod
Common-Garden Experiment
Conservation Biology
Diet
Environment
Environmental conservation
Food supply
Gadus morhua - genetics
Gadus morhua - growth & development
Genetic Variation
High temperature
Larva - growth & development
Larvae
Larval development
Marine fishes
Microsatellite Repeats - genetics
Phenotype
Phenotypic Plasticity
Population Differentiation
Population Dynamics
Population genetics
Population growth
Survival Analysis
Temperature
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Summary:Neither the scale of adaptive variation nor the genetic basis for differential population responses to the environment is known for broadcast-spawning marine fishes. Using a common-garden experimental protocol, we document how larval growth, survival and their norms of reaction differ genetically among four populations of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). These traits, and their plastic responses to food and temperature, differed across spatial scales at which microsatellite DNA failed to detect population structure. Divergent survival reaction norms indicate that warm-water populations are more sensitive to changes in food, whereas cold-water populations are more sensitive to changes in temperature. Our results suggest that neither the direction nor the magnitude of demographic responses to environmental change need be the same among populations. Adaptive phenotypic plasticity, previously undocumented in marine fishes, can significantly influence the probability of recovery and persistence of collapsed populations by affecting their ability to respond to natural and anthropogenic environmental change.
ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.2007.0263