We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Four decades of opposing natural and human-induced artificial selection acting on Windermere pike ( Esox lucius).
- Authors
Carlson, Stephanie M.; Edeline, Eric; Asbjørn Vøllestad, L.; Haugen, Thrond. O.; Winfield, Ian J.; Fletcher, Janice M.; Ben James, J.; Stenseth, Nils Chr.
- Abstract
The ability of natural selection to drive local adaptation has been appreciated ever since Darwin. Whether human impacts can impede the adaptive process has received less attention. We tested this hypothesis by quantifying natural selection and harvest selection acting on a freshwater fish (pike) over four decades. Across the time series, directional natural selection tended to favour large individuals whereas the fishery targeted large individuals. Moreover, non-linear natural selection tended to favour intermediate sized fish whereas the fishery targeted intermediate sized fish because the smallest and largest individuals were often not captured. Thus, our results unequivocally demonstrate that natural selection and fishery selection often acted in opposite directions within this natural system. Moreover, the two selective factors combined to produce reduced fitness overall and stronger stabilizing selection relative to natural selection acting alone. The long-term ramifications of such human-induced modifications to adaptive landscapes are currently unknown and certainly warrant further investigation.
- Subjects
NATURAL selection; BIOLOGICAL adaptation; PIKE; FRESHWATER fishes; FISHERIES; EFFECT of environment on human beings
- Publication
Ecology Letters, 2007, Vol 10, Issue 6, p512
- ISSN
1461-023X
- Publication type
Letter
- DOI
10.1111/j.1461-0248.2007.01046.x