Phenotypic convergence of artificially reared and wild trout ismediated by shape plasticity
Phenotypic plasticity can be viewed as the first level of defense of organism homeo-stasis against environmental stress and therefore represents the potential to deal withrapid environmental changes. Transitions between low complexity, artificial environ-ments and complex, natural habitats can promo...
| Autores: | , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2017 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya) |
| Repositorio: | Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:recercat.cat:10459.1/467558 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3156 https://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/467558 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Ecological convergence Environmental conditioning Field experiment Habitat complexity |
| Sumario: | Phenotypic plasticity can be viewed as the first level of defense of organism homeo-stasis against environmental stress and therefore represents the potential to deal withrapid environmental changes. Transitions between low complexity, artificial environ-ments and complex, natural habitats can promote phenotypic plasticity. Here, we con-ducted an experimental introduction with juvenile brown trout to evaluate theplasticity of shape in response to a transition between contrasting environments. Wereleased 202 juvenile trout reared under hatchery conditions in a natural stream andanalyzed changes in shape and morphological variability after 5 months. A geometricmorphometrics approach based on 14 landmarks was used to compare changes inbody shape for 37 fish recaptured at the end of the experiment. A similar number ofhatchery and wild fish caught at the receptor stream were used as controls for shapein the two environments. After 5-months, fish showed significant change in shape,shifting from elongated to robust shapes, and affecting to the relative position of thecaudal peduncle. These new shapes were closer to wild than to the hatchery shapes,suggesting a process of rapid phenotype change. Moreover, these changes were con-comitant with a marked increase in morphological variability. Our results support thehypothesis that phenotypic plasticity is a major potential for adjustment to environ-mental change but not the idea that shape can be constrained by initial shapes. Weconfirmed the “increased” variance hypothesis and phenotype convergence with wildmorphs. This has important implications because stresses the role of phenotypic plas-ticity as a buffer that allows organisms to cope with important environmental discon-tinuities at time scales that preclude the onset of adaptive adjustments. We suggestthat environmental conditioning and shape plasticity can overcome both reduced mor-phological diversity and phenotype uncoupling with habitat characteristics resultingfrom initial rearing in low complexity artificial environments. |
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