Rapid evolution of threespine stickleback

I will examine the limits of evolution by investigating morphological and genetic variation of threespine stickleback populations in real time, under the supervision of Dr. Eric Palkovacs at the University of California, Santa Cruz. According to evolutionary theory, organisms experience selective pressures, which can result in adaptation and evolution. Since strong selection events are frequently unpredictable and isolated, and because spatially and temporally replicated selection events are uncommon in nature, studies of evolution in nature in real time are rare. The populations of threespine stickleback occupying bar-built estuaries around Santa Cruz, represent an excellent system to study rapid evolution. These small fish can occupy both marine and freshwater environments, and experience extreme yet predictable selection events. This system will enlable us to investigate several questions: (1) To what temporal scale are population-level genomic changes occurring, and are they detectable over a monthly or seasonal scale? (2) What is the nature of the heritable modifications? Are they genetic and/or are other adaptive phenomena involved? (3) To what temporal scale are population-level phenotypic changes occurring, and are they detectable over a monthly or seasonal scale? If so, what morphological traits are affected?

Faculty Supervisor:

Andrew Hendry

Student:

Partner:

University of California, Santa Cruz

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Life Sciences (not health); Environmental Science and Technology; Water

University:

McGill University

Program: