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Divergent sexual selection enhances reproductive isolation in sticklebacks

Nature volume 411, pages 944–948 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Sexual selection may facilitate speciation because it can cause rapid evolutionary diversification of male mating signals and female preferences. Divergence in these traits can then contribute to reproductive isolation1,2,3. The sensory drive hypothesis predicts that three mechanisms underlie divergence in sexually selected traits4: (1) habitat-specific transmission of male signals5,6,7; (2) adaptation of female perceptual sensitivity to local ecological conditions8; and (3) matching of male signals to female perceptual sensitivity4,9. I test these mechanisms in threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus spp.) that live in different light environments. Here I show that female perceptual sensitivity to red light varies with the extent of redshift in the light environment, and contributes to divergent preferences. Male nuptial colour varies with environment and is tuned to female perceptual sensitivity. The extent of divergence among populations in both male signal colour and female preference for red is correlated with the extent of reproductive isolation in these recently diverged species. These results demonstrate that divergent sexual selection generated by sensory drive contributes to speciation.

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Figure 1: Influence of water colour (λp50 values for nesting habitat) on sexually selected traits in males and females.
Figure 2: Relationship between female detection threshold for red and area of red coloration in males (r = -0.94, P < 0.05).
Figure 3
Figure 4: Relationship between the divergence among populations in male signal colour and female preference for red, and reproductive isolation between populations.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank S. Morgan and B. Harvey for help with data collection, and C. Hawryshyn (and his NSERC equipment grant) and P. Jolliffe for the loan of equipment. I also thank J. Endler, S. Kuhnholz, T. Lenormand, S. Otto, A. Poon, H. Rundle, G. Saxer, D. Schluter, J. Smith, S. Vamosi and M. Whitlock for comments on the manuscript; Holnam West Materials for access to Paxton Lake; and Fairwinds Corporation for access to Enos Lake. This work was supported by NSF-NATO and NSF-International Research fellowships to J.W.B. and NSERC operating grants to D. Schluter.

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  1. Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, BC, Canada

    Janette Wenrick Boughman

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Correspondence to Janette Wenrick Boughman.

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Boughman, J. Divergent sexual selection enhances reproductive isolation in sticklebacks. Nature 411, 944–948 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35082064

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