Adding the Third Dimension to Studies of Parallel Evolution of Morphology and Function: An Exploration Based on Parapatric Lake-Stream Stickleback

Authors

Grant E. Haines, McGill UniversityFollow
Yoel E. Stuart, Loyola University ChicagoFollow
Dieta Hanson, McGill University
Tania Tasneem, Kealing Middle School
Daniel I. Bolnick, University Of Connecticut
Hans CE Larsson, McGill University
Andrew P. Hendry, McGill University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2020

Publication Title

Ecology and Evolution

Volume

10

Issue

23

Pages

13297-13311

Publisher Name

Wiley

Abstract

Recent methodological advances have led to a rapid expansion of evolutionary studies employing three-dimensional landmark-based geometric morphometrics (GM). GM methods generally enable researchers to capture and compare complex shape phenotypes, and to quantify their relationship to environmental gradients. However, some recent studies have shown that the common, inexpensive, and relatively rapid two-dimensional GM methods can distort important information and produce misleading results because they cannot capture variation in the depth (Z) dimension. We use micro-CT scanned threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus Linnaeus, 1758) from six parapatric lake-stream populations on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, to test whether the loss of the depth dimension in 2D GM studies results in misleading interpretations of parallel evolution. Using joint locations described with 2D or 3D landmarks, we compare results from separate 2D and 3D shape spaces, from a combined 2D-3D shape space, and from estimates of biomechanical function. We show that, although shape is distorted enough in 2D projections to strongly influence the interpretation of morphological parallelism, estimates of biomechanical function are relatively robust to the loss of the Z dimension.

Comments

Author Posting © The Authors, 2020. This article was published open access in Ecology and Evolution, Volume 10, Issue 23, Pages 13297-13311, December 2020. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6929

Recommended Citation

Haines, Grant E.; Stuart, Yoel E.; Hanson, Dieta; Tasneem, Tania; Bolnick, Daniel I.; Larsson, Hans CE; and Hendry, Andrew P.. Adding the Third Dimension to Studies of Parallel Evolution of Morphology and Function: An Exploration Based on Parapatric Lake-Stream Stickleback. Ecology and Evolution, 10, 23: 13297-13311, 2020. Retrieved from Loyola eCommons, Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6929

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright Statement

© The Authors, 2020.