Rapid Evolution of Reproductive Isolation in the Wild: Evidence from Introduced Salmon

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 290; no. 5491; pp. 516 - 518
• Main Authors: Hendry, Andrew P., Wenburg, John K., Bentzen, Paul, Volk, Eric C., Quinn, Thomas P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 20-10-2000; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Adaptation (Biology); Adults; Alleles; Animal populations; Animal reproduction; Animals; Beaches; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Evolution; Breeding; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Ecosystem; Evidence; Evolution; Evolutionary adaptation; Female; Fish; Freshwater; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene flow; Genetic loci; Genetic Variation; Genetics; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Genetics, Population; Immigration; Individualized Instruction; Isolating mechanisms; Laboratory Experiments; Male; Marine; Microsatellite Repeats; Migration; Oncorhynchus nerka; Phenotype; Porosity; Reproduction; Reproduction (Biology); Reproductive isolating mechanisms; Reproductive isolation; Salmon; Salmon - genetics; Salmon - physiology; Salmonidae; Sand soils; Sedimentary soils; Sexual Behavior, Animal; Soil pore systems; Speciation; Washington; United States; North America; America; Washington; Salmonidae; Oncorhynchus nerka; Vertebrata; Introduced species; Reproductive isolation; Pisces; Biological evolution; Animal population; Speciation
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.290.5491.516

Colonization of new environments should promote rapid speciation as a by-product of adaptation to divergent selective regimes. Although this process of ecological speciation is known to have occurred over millennia or centuries, nothing is known about how quickly reproductive isolation actually evolves when new environments are first colonized. Using DNA microsatellites, population-specific natural tags, and phenotypic variation, we tested for reproductive isolation between two adjacent salmon populations of a common ancestry that colonized divergent reproductive environments (a river and a lake beach). We found evidence for the evolution of reproductive isolation after fewer than 13 generations.