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Stieb SM, Cortesi F, de Queiroz LJ, Carleton KL, Seehausen O, Marshall NJ. Long-wavelength-sensitive (lws) opsin gene expression, foraging and visual communication in coral reef fishes. Mol Ecol 2023; 32:1656-1672. [PMID: 36560895 PMCID: PMC10065935 DOI: 10.1111/mec.16831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2022] [Revised: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Coral reef fishes are diverse in ecology and behaviour and show remarkable colour variability. Investigating the visual pigment gene (opsin) expression in these fishes makes it possible to associate their visual genotype and phenotype (spectral sensitivities) to visual tasks, such as feeding strategy or conspecific detection. By studying all major damselfish clades (Pomacentridae) and representatives from five other coral reef fish families, we show that the long-wavelength-sensitive (lws) opsin is highly expressed in algivorous and less or not expressed in zooplanktivorous species. Lws is also upregulated in species with orange/red colours (reflectance >520 nm) and expression is highest in orange/red-coloured algivores. Visual models from the perspective of a typical damselfish indicate that sensitivity to longer wavelengths does enhance the ability to detect the red to far-red component of algae and orange/red-coloured conspecifics, possibly enabling social signalling. Character state reconstructions indicate that in the early evolutionary history of damselfishes, there was no lws expression and no orange/red coloration. Omnivory was most often the dominant state. Although herbivory was sometimes dominant, zooplanktivory was never dominant. Sensitivity to long wavelength (increased lws expression) only emerged in association with algivory but never with zooplanktivory. Higher lws expression is also exploited by social signalling in orange/red, which emerged after the transition to algivory. Although the relative timing of traits may deviate by different reconstructions and alternative explanations are possible, our results are consistent with sensory bias whereby social signals evolve as a correlated response to natural selection on sensory system properties in other contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara M. Stieb
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry (CEEB), EAWAG Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Switzerland
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Fabio Cortesi
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Luiz Jardim de Queiroz
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry (CEEB), EAWAG Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Switzerland
| | - Karen L. Carleton
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Ole Seehausen
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry (CEEB), EAWAG Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Switzerland
| | - N. Justin Marshall
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
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Keith SA, Hobbs JP, Boström-Einarsson L, Hartley IR, Sanders NJ. Rapid resource depletion on coral reefs disrupts competitor recognition processes among butterflyfish species. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222158. [PMID: 36598015 PMCID: PMC9811634 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Avoiding costly fights can help conserve energy needed to survive rapid environmental change. Competitor recognition processes help resolve contests without escalating to attack, yet we have limited understanding of how they are affected by resource depletion and potential effects on species coexistence. Using a mass coral mortality event as a natural experiment and 3770 field observations of butterflyfish encounters, we test how rapid resource depletion could disrupt recognition processes in butterflyfishes. Following resource loss, heterospecifics approached each other more closely before initiating aggression, fewer contests were resolved by signalling, and the energy invested in attacks was greater. By contrast, behaviour towards conspecifics did not change. As predicted by theory, conspecifics approached one another more closely and were more consistent in attack intensity yet, contrary to expectations, resolution of contests via signalling was more common among heterospecifics. Phylogenetic relatedness or body size did not predict these outcomes. Our results suggest that competitor recognition processes for heterospecifics became less accurate after mass coral mortality, which we hypothesize is due to altered resource overlaps following dietary shifts. Our work implies that competitor recognition is common among heterospecifics, and disruption of this system could lead to suboptimal decision-making, exacerbating sublethal impacts of food scarcity.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. A. Keith
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK
| | - J-P.A. Hobbs
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4069, Australia
| | | | - I. R. Hartley
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK
| | - N. J. Sanders
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
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OUP accepted manuscript. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blac036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
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Miller EC, Mesnick SL, Wiens JJ. Sexual Dichromatism Is Decoupled from Diversification over Deep Time in Fishes. Am Nat 2021; 198:232-252. [PMID: 34260865 DOI: 10.1086/715114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
AbstractSexually selected traits have long been thought to drive diversification, but support for this hypothesis has been persistently controversial. In fishes, sexually dimorphic coloration is associated with assortative mating and speciation among closely related species, as shown in classic studies. However, it is unclear whether these results can generalize to explain diversity patterns across ray-finned fishes, which contain the majority of vertebrate species and 96% of fishes. Here, we use phylogenetic approaches to test for an association between sexual dichromatism and diversification rates (speciation minus extinction) in ray-finned fishes. We assembled dichromatism data for 10,898 species, a data set of unprecedented size. We found no difference in diversification rates between monochromatic and dichromatic species when including all ray-finned fishes. However, at lower phylogenetic scales (within orders and families), some intermediate-sized clades did show an effect of dichromatism on diversification. Surprisingly, dichromatism could significantly increase or decrease diversification rates. Moreover, we found no effect in many of the clades initially used to link dichromatism to speciation in fishes (e.g., cichlids) or an effect only at shallow scales (within subclades). Overall, we show how the effects of dichromatism on diversification are highly variable in direction and restricted to certain clades and phylogenetic scales.
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Roux N, Salis P, Lee SH, Besseau L, Laudet V. Anemonefish, a model for Eco-Evo-Devo. EvoDevo 2020; 11:20. [PMID: 33042514 PMCID: PMC7539381 DOI: 10.1186/s13227-020-00166-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2020] [Accepted: 09/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Anemonefish, are a group of about 30 species of damselfish (Pomacentridae) that have long aroused the interest of coral reef fish ecologists. Combining a series of original biological traits and practical features in their breeding that are described in this paper, anemonefish are now emerging as an experimental system of interest for developmental biology, ecology and evolutionary sciences. They are small sized and relatively easy to breed in specific husbandries, unlike the large-sized marine fish used for aquaculture. Because they live in highly structured social groups in sea anemones, anemonefish allow addressing a series of relevant scientific questions such as the social control of growth and sex change, the mechanisms controlling symbiosis, the establishment and variation of complex color patterns, and the regulation of aging. Combined with the use of behavioral experiments, that can be performed in the lab or directly in the wild, as well as functional genetics and genomics, anemonefish provide an attractive experimental system for Eco-Evo-Devo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natacha Roux
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR « Biologie Intégrative Des Organismes Marins », BIOM, 1, 66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France
| | - Pauline Salis
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR « Biologie Intégrative Des Organismes Marins », BIOM, 1, 66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France
| | - Shu-Hua Lee
- Lab of Marine Eco-Evo-Devo, Marine Research Station, Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Laurence Besseau
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UMR « Biologie Intégrative Des Organismes Marins », BIOM, 1, 66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer, France
| | - Vincent Laudet
- Lab of Marine Eco-Evo-Devo, Marine Research Station, Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.,Marine Eco-Evo-Devo Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna son, Okinawa, 904-0495 Japan
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Hodge JR, Santini F, Wainwright PC. Colour dimorphism in labrid fishes as an adaptation to life on coral reefs. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20200167. [PMID: 32183627 PMCID: PMC7126040 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2020] [Accepted: 03/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Conspicuous coloration displayed by animals that express sexual colour dimorphism is generally explained as an adaptation to sexual selection, yet the interactions and relative effects of selective forces influencing colour dimorphism are largely unknown. Qualitatively, colour dimorphism appears more pronounced in marine fishes that live on coral reefs where traits associated with strong sexual selection are purportedly more common. Using phylogenetic comparative analysis, we show that wrasses and parrotfishes exclusive to coral reefs are the most colour dimorphic, but surprisingly, the effect of habitat is not influenced by traits associated with strong sexual selection. Rather, habitat-specific selective forces, including clear water and structural refuge, promote the evolution of pronounced colour dimorphism that manifests colours less likely to be displayed in other habitats. Our results demonstrate that environmental context ultimately determines the evolution of conspicuous coloration in colour-dimorphic labrid fishes, despite other influential selective forces.
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Affiliation(s)
- J R Hodge
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - F Santini
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - P C Wainwright
- Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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