Does motility-restricting fibrosis influence dispersal? An experiment in nature with threespine stickleback

Dispersal can affect individual-level fitness and population-level ecological and evolutionary processes. Factors that affect dispersal could therefore have important eco-evolutionary implications. Here, we investigated the extent to which an inflammation and tissue repair response – peritoneal fibrosis – which is known to restrict movement, could influence dispersal by conducting a mark-recapture experiment in a lake in Alaska with threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculatus). A subset of captured stickleback were injected with aluminum phosphate to experimentally induce fibrosis ('treatment group'), and another subset were injected with saline or received no injection– both of which do not induce fibrosis ('control group'). We released all fish at one introduction point and re-sampled stickleback throughout the lake for eight days. We recaptured 123 individuals (n = 47 fibrosis treatment; n = 76 control) and dissected them to determine fibrosis levels. Overall, fibrosis did not affe..., , , # Does motility-restricting fibrosis influence dispersal? An experiment in nature with threespine stickleback [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qfttdz0rx](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qfttdz0rx) ## Description of the data and file structure Factors that affect dispersal can have important eco-evolutionary implications. Here, we show that an inflammation and tissue repair response – peritoneal fibrosis – does not influence threespine stickleback dispersal. To do so, we conducted a mark-recapture experiment in a lake in Alaska. A subset of stickleback were injected with aluminum phosphate, which induces fibrosis. Another subset were either injected with phosphate buffered saline, or received no injection (handling control group), both of which do not induce fibrosis. We released fish from all treatment groups (alum, saline, handling) into the lake and resampled throughout the lake, at various distances from that introduction point. Re-captured stickleback were dissected to determine the ...,