Local Adaptation

As populations are exposed to different environmental conditions, natural selection causes the populations to diverge and become adapted to the local conditions. This is a phenomenon that is generally widespread in the natural world, but it is still debatable how well local adaptation explains certain ecological processes. 

In this case, can we use patterns of local adaptation to predict who will be successful in transplants or introductions?

To track which source population success in each lake, we have gone back each year since the introduction to sample about 100 fish from each lake.  We have extracted DNA from each fish and are using genotyping to infer ancestry. Specifically, we are looking for genetic markers that are indicative of each source population, to determine which source population(s) each fish is derived from. 

By looking at patterns of ancestry over time, we can track the success of each source population.

To predict which populations will succeed in each lake, we can use the environmental conditions of the source and recipient lakes. If local adaptation explains population success, then populations will succeed in the lakes where that are most environmentally similar to their home lake.  On the other hand, it may be the case that some populations possess certain traits that make them more successful than others, regardless of environment.

Stay tuned for some results, or catch my talk at the upcoming Stickleback Conference this summer.