Predicting rapid adaptation in time from adaptation in space: A 30-year field experiment in marine snails
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2024

Predicting the outcomes of adaptation is a major goal of evolutionary biology. When temporal changes in the environment mirror spatial gradients, it opens up the potential for predicting the course of adaptive evolution over time based on patterns of spatial genetic and phenotypic variation. We assessed this approach in a 30-year transplant experiment in the intertidal snail Littorina saxatilis. In 1992, snails were transplanted from a predation-dominated environment to one dominated by wave action. On the basis of spatial patterns, we predicted transitions in shell size and morphology, allele frequencies at positions throughout the genome, and chromosomal rearrangement frequencies. Observed changes closely agreed with predictions and transformation was both dramatic and rapid. Hence, adaptation can be predicted from knowledge of the phenotypic and genetic variation among populations.

Författare

Diego Garcia Castillo

Institute of Science and Technology Austria

Nick Barton

Institute of Science and Technology Austria

Rui Faria

Universidade do Porto

Jenny Larsson

Chalmers, Matematiska vetenskaper, Tillämpad matematik och statistik

Göteborgs universitet

Sean Stankowski

University of Sussex

Institute of Science and Technology Austria

R. K. Butlin

University of Sheffield

Göteborgs universitet

K. Johannesson

Göteborgs universitet

A. M. Westram

Nord universitet

Science advances

2375-2548 (eISSN)

Vol. 10 41 eadp2102

Ämneskategorier (SSIF 2011)

Evolutionsbiologi

Ekologi

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adp2102

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2025-12-02