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Morphometrics for Nonmorphometricians pp 233–257Cite as

Correlating Shape Variation with Feeding Performance to Test for Adaptive Divergence in Recently Invading Stickleback Populations from Swiss peri-alpine Environments

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences ((LNEARTH,volume 124))

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate the application of geometric morphometrics in a typical study, and put the information it provides into a broader context. Here we use geometric morphometrics to describe the head shape among three different Swiss stickleback populations from two drainages, including both lake and stream residents. Head shapes are compared to feeding efficiency indices generated from laboratory trials using lake and stream prey types. We also combine these data with genetic and other more traditional morphological assessments to understand the roots of the tremendous variation exhibited by sticklebacks in Switzerland. This work shows that in combination with other data, geometric morphometrics can make a significant contribution toward understanding the natural history of taxa and is an indispensible tool providing insight into fundamental mechanisms of adaptive divergence and speciation.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the collaborators of this book and especially A.M.T. Elewa for the great contributions to this book and for the opportunity to include our work. Alan Hudson, Isabel Magalhaes, Pascal Vonlanthen, Oliver Selz and Corinne Schmid helped collect specimens from the various locations. M. McKinney and F. Palstra reviewed earlier versions of the MS. This work was funded by the Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Sciences & Technology (EAWAG) through the Action Field Grant AquaDiverse – aimed at understanding and predicting changes in aquatic biodiversity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford St., Halifax, NS, B3H 4J1, Canada

    Denis Roy

  2. EAWAG, Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Sciences and Technology, Center of Ecology, Evolution & Biogeochemistry, Seestrasse 79, CH6047, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland

    Denis Roy

  3. Department of Biology, Institute of Ecology & Evolution, University of Bern, CH3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Kay Lucek, Esther Bühler & Ole Seehausen

  4. EAWAG, Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Sciences and Technology, Center of Ecology, Evolution & Biogeochemistry, CH6047, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland

    Ole Seehausen

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  1. Denis Roy
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  2. Kay Lucek
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  4. Ole Seehausen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Denis Roy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Science, Dept. Geology, Minia University, Minia, 61519, Egypt

    Ashraf M.T. Elewa

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Roy, D., Lucek, K., Bühler, E., Seehausen, O. (2010). Correlating Shape Variation with Feeding Performance to Test for Adaptive Divergence in Recently Invading Stickleback Populations from Swiss peri-alpine Environments. In: Elewa, A. (eds) Morphometrics for Nonmorphometricians. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, vol 124. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-95853-6_10

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