Ce. Thompson et al., PARALLEL EVOLUTION OF LAKE-STREAM PAIRS OF THREESPINE STICKLEBACKS (GASTEROSTEUS) INFERRED FROM MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA VARIATION, Evolution, 51(6), 1997, pp. 1955-1965
Three drainage systems in British Columbia, Canada, contain divergent
parapatric lake-stream pairs of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus
aculeatus): Drizzle and Mayer Lakes on Graham Island, Queen Charlotte
Islands, and Misty Lake on northeastern Vancouver island. Ecological a
nd morphological differences between members of all three lake-stream
pairs are strikingly similar; lake fish are melanistic and slim bodied
with smaller mouths and more gill rakers than the mottled-brown and r
obust-bodied stream sticklebacks. We estimated the level of genetic di
vergence between lake and stream fish in Misty Lake and tested hypothe
ses of single versus multiple origins of the pairs by assaying mitocho
ndrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction site variation in samples from the thre
e lake systems. MtDNA analysis revealed the existence of two highly di
vergent lineages differing by 2.7% in sequence. One lineage predominat
ed in Misty stream fish (73%), whereas the ether lineage predominated
in Misty Lake samples (96%). Comparable forms (lake or stream) in the
different lakes did not cluster together in terms of mtDNA nucleotide
divergence, suggesting that the pairs have had independent origins. We
concluded that: (1) divergent mtDNA lineages in North Pacific stickle
backs stem from historical isolation in the two major glacial refugia
proposed for the North Pacific (Beringia and Cascadia); (2) the stream
and lake pair in Misty Lake are distinct gene pools; (3) the divergen
ce between parapatric lake and stream Gasterosteus represents parallel
evolution having occurred at least twice in the North Pacific; and (4
) different scales of evolutionary divergence exist in North Pacific G
asterosteus, that is, a relatively ancient divergence of mtDNA clades
as well as recent (i.e.: postglacial), divergence of ecotypes within m
ajor clades.