Patterns of temporal change in single morphological characters of a Miocene stickleback fish | Paleobiology | Cambridge Core (original) (raw)

Article contents

Abstract

Patterns of temporal variation of six characters in a Miocene stickleback (Gasterosteus doryssus) are presented. Most pairs of characters tend to be correlated, but these correlations account for only about 26% of the observed variation, and thus the characters are studied separately. All character state frequencies exhibit temporal heterogeneity, and their means have temporal trends. Regardless of these overall trends, reversals of the trends cause end members of four time series not to differ significantly from each other. We argue that most observed temporal variation represents intrapopulation evolutionary change. Although most time series have somewhat stepped patterns, complete stasis is absent. Gradual variation is predominant, and in one case is nearly linear, but very rapid evolutionary bursts are also seen. The most rapid stratigraphic change appears to represent a local extinction, followed by recolonization by a differentiated population, but another episode of rapid change probably represents evolution in situ by means of standard neo-Darwinian mechanisms, without involvement of “macromutations” or true saltation. The irregular patterns and great magnitude of phenotypic change that are observed indicate that conventional paleontological samples may miss important evolutionary phenomena and are not comparable to shorter-term evolution in extant populations.

Information

Type

Research Article

Copyright

Copyright © The Paleontological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Alberch, P. 1983. Morphological variation in the Neotropical salamander genus Bolitoglossa. Evolution. 37:906–919.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Axelrod, D. I. 1956. Mio-Pliocene floras from west-central Nevada. Univ. California Publ. Geol. Sci. 33:1–321.Google Scholar

Behrensmeyer, A. K. 1982. Time resolution in fluvial vertebrate assemblages. Paleobiology. 8:211–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Bell, M. A. 1974. Reduction and loss of the pelvic girdle in Gasterosteus (Pisces): a case of parallel evolution. Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Cty. Contrib. Sci. 257:1–36.Google Scholar

Bell, M. A. 1976. Evolution of phenotypic diversity in Gasterosteus aculeatus superspecies on the Pacific coast of North America. Syst. Zool. 25:211–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Bell, M. A. 1984a. Evolutionary phenetics and genetics: the threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, and related species. Pp. 431–528. In: Turner, B. J., ed. Evolutionary Genetics of Fishes. Plenum; New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Bell, M. A. 1984b. Gigantism in threespine sticklebacks: implications for causation of body size evolution. Copeia. 1984:530–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Bell, M. A., Francis, R. C., and Havens, A. C. 1985. Pelvic reduction and its directional asymmetry in threespine sticklebacks from the Cook Inlet region, Alaska. Copeia. 1985:437–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Bell, M. A. and Haglund, T. R. 1982. Fine-scale temporal variation of the Miocene stickleback Gasterosteus doryssus. Paleobiology. 8:282–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Berggren, W. A. and Casey, R. E. 1983. Introduction to the symposium on the tempo and mode of evolution from micropaleontological data. Paleobiology. 9:326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Bond, C. E. 1979. Biology of Fishes. 514 pp. Saunders; Philadelphia.Google Scholar

Bookstein, F. L., Gingerich, P. D., and Kluge, A. G. 1978. Hierarchical linear modeling of the tempo and mode of evolution. Paleobiology. 4:120–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Campbell, R. N. 1979. Sticklebacks [Gasterosteus aculeatus (L.), and Pungitius pungitius (L.)] in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Hebridean Nat. 3:8–15.Google Scholar

Charlesworth, B., Lande, R., and Slatkin, M. 1982. A neo-Darwinian commentary on macroevolution. Evolution. 36:474–498.Google ScholarPubMed

Dingus, L. and Sadler, P. M. 1982. The effects of stratigraphic completeness on estimates of evolutionary rates. Syst. Zool. 31:400–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Dixon, W. J. 1977. BMDP-77. Biomedical Computer Programs P-series. 880 pp. Univ. California Press; Los Angeles.Google Scholar

Eldredge, N. and Gould, S. J. 1972. Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism. Pp. 82–115. In: Schopf, T. J. M., ed. Models in Paleobiology. Freeman, Cooper; San Francisco.Google Scholar

Giles, N. 1983. The possible role of environmental calcium levels during evolution of phenotypic diversity in Outer Hebridean populations of the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus. J. Zool. London. 199:535–544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Ginzburg, L. R. and Rost, J. D. 1982. Are “punctuations” artifacts of time-scales? Nature. 296:610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Gould, S. J. 1982. The meaning of punctuated equilibrium and its role in validating a hierarchical approach to macroevolution. Pp. 83–104. In: Milkman, R., ed. Perspectives on Evolution. Sinauer; Sunderland, Mass.Google Scholar

Gould, S. J. and Eldredge, N. 1977. Punctuated equilibria: the tempo and mode of evolution reconsidered. Paleobiology. 3:115–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Hagen, D. W. and Blouw, D. M. 1983. Heritability of dorsal spines in the fourspine stickleback (Apeltes quadracus). Heredity. 50:275–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Jordan, D. S. 1907. The fossil fishes of California with supplementary notes on other species of extinct fishes. Bull. Univ. California Publ. Dept. Geol. 5(7):95–144.Google Scholar

Jordan, D. S. 1908. Note on a fossil stickleback fish from Nevada. Smithsonian Misc. Coll. 52:117.Google Scholar

Kirkpatrick, M. 1982. Quantum evolution and punctuated equilibria in continuous genetic characters. Am. Nat. 119:833–848.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Kirpichnikov, V. S. 1981. Genetic Bases of Fish Selection (Trans. Gause, G.G.). 410 pp. Springer-Verlag; New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Levinton, J. S. 1983. Stasis in progress: the empirical basis of macroevolution. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 14:103–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Lindsey, C. C. 1962. Experimental study of meristic variation in a population of three-spine sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus. Can. J. Zool. 40:271–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Maderson, P. F. A. 1982. The role of development in macroevolutionary change. Pp. 279–312. In: Bonner, J. T., ed. Evolution and Development. Springer-Verlag; New York.Google Scholar

McPhail, J. D. 1977. Inherited interpopulation differences in size at first reproduction in threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus L. Heredity. 38:53–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Moodie, G. E. E. and Reimchen, T. E. 1976. Phenetic variation and habitat differences in Gasterosteus populations of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Syst. Zool. 25:49–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Nelson, J. S. 1971. Absence of the pelvic complex in ninespine stickebacks. Pungitius pungitius, collected in Ireland and Wood Buffalo National Park region, Canada, with notes on meritistic variation. Copeia. 1971:707–717.Google Scholar

Nelson, J. S. 1977. Evidence of a genetic basis for absence of the pelvic skeleton in brook stickleback, Culuea inconstans, and notes on the geographical distribution and origin of the loss. J. Fish. Res. Bd. Can. 34:1314–1320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Olson, E. C. and Miller, R. L. 1958. Morphological Integration. 317 pp. Univ. Chicago Press; Chicago.Google Scholar

Raff, R. A. and Kaufman, T. C. 1983. Embryos, Genes, and Evolution. 395 pp. Macmillan; New York.Google Scholar

Raup, D. M. and Crick, R. E. 1981. Evolution of single characters in the Jurassic ammonite Kosmoceras. Paleobiology. 7:200–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Reimchen, T. E. 1980. Spine deficiency and polymorphism in a population of Gasterosteus aculeatus: an adaptation to predators? Can. J. Zool. 58:1232–1244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Reimchen, T. E. 1983. Structural relationships between spines and lateral plates in threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Evolution. 37:931–946.Google ScholarPubMed

Ruben, J. 1971. A Pliocene colubrid snake (Reptilia: Colubridae) from west-central Nevada. Paleobios. 13:1–19.Google Scholar

Sadler, P. M. 1981. Sediment accumulation rates and the completeness of stratigraphic sections. J. Geol. 89:569–584.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Schaeffer, B., Hecht, M. K., and Eldredge, N. 1972. Phylogeny and paleontology. Pp. 31–46. In: Dobzhansky, Th., Hecht, M. K., and Steere, W. C., eds. Evolutionary Biology. Appleton-Century-Crofts; New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Schindel, D. E. 1980. Microstratigraphic sampling and the limits of paleontologic resolution. Paleobiology. 6:408–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Schindel, D. E. 1982. Resolution analysis: a new approach to the gaps in the fossil record. Paleobiology. 8:340–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Simpson, G. G. 1944. Tempo and Mode in Evolution. 237 pp. Columbia Univ. Press; New York.Google Scholar

Smith, G. R. 1981. Late Cenozoic freshwater fishes of North America. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 12:163–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Sokal, R. R. and Rohlf, F. J. 1981. Biometry, the Principles and Practice of Statistics in Biological Research. 2d ed.859 pp. W. H. Freeman; San Francisco.Google Scholar

Wetzel, R. G. 1975. Limnology. 743 pp. Saunders; Philadelphia.Google Scholar

Wootton, R. J. 1976. The Biology of the Sticklebacks. 387 pp. Academic Press; New York.Google Scholar

Wootton, R. J. 1984. A Functional Biology of the Sticklebacks. 265 pp. Univ. California Press; Berkeley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar