Data from: Context-dependence in complex adaptive landscapes: frequency and trait-dependent selection surfaces within an adaptive radiation of Caribbean pupfishes

The adaptive landscape provides the foundational bridge between micro- and macroevolution. One well-known caveat to this perspective is that fitness surfaces depend on ecological context, including competitor frequency, traits measured, and resource abundance. However, this view is based largely on intraspecific studies. It is still unknown how context-dependence affects the larger features of peaks and valleys on the landscape which ultimately drive speciation and adaptive radiation. Here I explore this question using one of the most complex fitness landscapes measured in the wild in a sympatric pupfish radiation endemic to San Salvador Island, Bahamas by tracking survival and growth of laboratory-reared F2 hybrids. I present new analyses of the effects of competitor frequency, dietary isotopes, and trait subsets on this fitness landscape. Contrary to expectations, decreasing competitor frequency increased survival only among very common phenotypes, whereas less common phenotypes rarely survived despite few competitors, suggesting that performance, not competitor frequency, shapes large-scale features of the fitness landscape. Dietary isotopes were weakly correlated with phenotype and growth, but did not explain additional survival variation. Nonlinear fitness surfaces varied substantially among trait subsets, revealing one-, two-, and three-peak landscapes, demonstrating the complexity of selection in the wild, even among similar functional traits.适应性景观（adaptive landscape）是连接微观进化与宏观进化的核心桥梁。该视角存在一项广为人知的局限：适应度表面（fitness surface）依赖于生态背景，包括竞争者频率、所测定的性状以及资源丰度。然而，这一认知主要基于种内研究，目前仍不清楚生态背景依赖性如何影响景观中最终推动物种形成与适应性辐射的峰谷宏观特征。本研究以巴哈马圣萨尔瓦多岛特有同域分布鳉鱼辐射类群中野外测定的最复杂适应度景观之一为研究对象，通过追踪实验室饲养的F2杂交后代的存活与生长情况，探讨这一科学问题。本研究针对竞争者频率、膳食同位素以及性状子集对该适应度景观的影响开展了全新分析。与预期相悖的是，降低竞争者频率仅能提升极为常见表型个体的存活率；而稀有表型个体即便竞争者稀少，存活率也极低，这表明是表现性能而非竞争者频率塑造了适应度景观的宏观特征。膳食同位素与表型及生长仅存在微弱相关性，无法解释额外的存活变异。不同性状子集的非线性适应度表面存在显著差异，呈现出单峰、双峰与三峰景观，这揭示了野外选择作用的复杂性——即便针对功能相似的性状亦是如此。