Sarah E. Steele presented her work in the Oikos meeting last week.

Mechanisms and axes of developmental plasticity and evolutionary divergence. Sarah Steele, Dagný Runarsdottir, Bjarni Kristjansson, Skuli Skulason, Prof Camille Leblanc, Sigridur R. Franzdottir, Zophonias Jonsson, Sigurdur Snorrason, Arnar Palsson.

Why are some species plastic and capable of rapid phenotypic diversification and polymorphism, while others are less flexible at the phenotype level and evolve more slowly? This question has puzzled geneticist and students of evolution for over a century, but new technologies have made it addressable. Here we set out to investigate the developmental and genetic basis of plasticity and polymorphism, applying experimental and molecular methods on the extremely diverse salmonid, Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus). Arctic charr has, in about 10,000 years following the ice age glacier retreat, invaded and adapted to diverse habitats, and in the process small benthic forms evolved in dozens of locations. Arctic charr is phenotypically very heterogeneous, to the extent that morphotypes were originally classified as distinct species, but also show high levels of phenotypic plasticity. We use a combination of genetic crosses, geometric morphometrics and next generation sequencing to characterize the plastic response to benthic or limnetic food. We compared wild stocks and their hybrids, reared in the laboratory, after hatching and while the juveniles are taking food. The results illuminate how we understand of the relationship of ecologically induced developmental plasticity and evolution of ecological specializations.

Marion Dellinger also presented data on behavioral phenotypes of the fishes from this experiment.

Tell me how you eat, I'll tell you who you are: how does feeding modalities affect personality distribution in the Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus)?