Diversity in reproductive seasonality in the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus

The annual timing of reproduction is a key life history trait having a large effect on fitness. Populations often vary in the timing and duration of reproduction to adapt to different seasonality of ecological and environmental variables between habitats. However, little is known about the molecular genetic mechanisms underlying interpopulation variation in reproductive seasonality. Here, we demonstrate that the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) can be a good model for molecular genetic analysis of variations in reproductive seasonality. We first compiled data on reproductive seasons of diverse ecotypes, covering marine-anadromous, lake, and stream ecotypes, of three-spined stickleback inhabiting a wide range of latitudes. Our analysis showed that both ecotype and latitude significantly contributed to variations in reproductive seasons. Stream ecotypes tend to start breeding earlier and end later than other ecotypes. Populations from lower latitudes tend to start breedin...

年度繁殖节律是影响个体适合度的关键生活史性状。不同生境间的生态与环境变量存在季节节律差异，种群往往通过调整繁殖的时间与持续时长以适应这种差异。然而，学界对繁殖季节节律种群间差异背后的分子遗传机制仍知之甚少。本研究证实，三刺鱼（Gasterosteus aculeatus）可作为开展繁殖季节节律变异分子遗传分析的理想模型。我们首先收集了分布于广泛纬度区间的各类生态型三刺鱼的繁殖季节数据，涵盖海-溯河洄游型、湖泊型以及溪流型生态型。分析结果显示，生态型与纬度均对繁殖季节的变异存在显著影响。相较于其他生态型，溪流型三刺鱼往往启动繁殖更早，且结束繁殖更晚。低纬度种群往往更早开始繁殖……