New paper: Parallel evolution of Arctic charr across divergent lineages
"Parallelism in eco-morphology and gene expression despite variable evolutionary and genomic backgrounds in a Holarctic fish" is in press with PLoS Genetics . data available on Enlighten. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1008658 Abstract Understanding the extent to which ecological divergence is repeatable is essential for predicting responses of biodiversity to environmental change. Here we test the predictability of evolution, from genotype to phenotype, by studying parallel evolution in a salmonid fish, Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus), across eleven replicate sympatric ecotype pairs (benthivorous-planktivorous and planktivorous-piscivorous) and two evolutionary lineages. We found considerable variability in eco-morphological divergence, with several traits related to foraging (eye diameter, pectoral fin length) being highly parallel even across lineages. This suggests repeated and predictable adaptation to environment. Consistent with ancestral genetic variation,