Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Genetic adaptation to local habitats and speciation processes within the genus Gammarus (Amphipoda: Crustacea)

  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A recent event of allopatric speciation (a time span of about 4 000 years) is reported from a comparison between two guilds of amphipod gammarids from the central Baltic Sea and from the Limfjord (inner Danish waters), respectively. For at least two of the five species populations involved, a genetically fixed habitat specialization has led to the establishment of reproductive barriers. It has, however, not been possible to correlate this speciation event with electrophoretically determined isozyme changes. It is argued that the lack of correlation is due to the presence of an initial time lag before a speciation event can be detected as isozyme differences between newly formed species populations as predicted by the neutrality hypothesis for evolution at the molecular level.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature cited

  • Aneer, G.: Some speculations about the Baltic herring (Clupea harengus membras) in connection with the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. Can. J. Fish. aquat. Sci. 42, 83–90 (1985)

    Google Scholar 

  • Aneer, G., A. Lindquist and L. Westin: Winter concentrations of Baltic herring (Clupea harengus var. membras L.). Contrib. Askö Lab. Univ. Stockholm 21, 1–19 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayala, F. J., M. L. Tracey, D. Hedgecock and R. C. Richmond: Genetic differentiation during the speciation process in Drosophila. Evolution 28, 576–592 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bulnheim, H.-P.: Comparative studies on the physiological ecology of five euryhaline Gammarus species. Oecologia (Berl.) 44, 80–86 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bush, G. L.: Modes of animal speciation. A. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 6, 339–364 (1975)

    Google Scholar 

  • Coyne, J. A., W. F. Eanes, J. A. M. Ramshaw and R. K. Koehn: Electrophoretic heterogeneity of α-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase among many species of Drosophila. Syst. Zool. 28, 164–175 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dennert, H. G.: Notes on some euryhaline gammarids (Crustacea, Amphipoda) from the west-coast of Norway. Bijdr. Dierk. 43, 160–172 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • Elseth, G. D. and K. D. Baumgardner: Population biology, Ch. 14. New York, Cincinnati: D. van Nostrand Company 1981

    Google Scholar 

  • Fenchel, T. M. and S. Kolding: Habitat selection and distribution patterns of five species of the amphipod genus Gammarus. Oikos 33, 316–322 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Forsman, B.: Notes on the invertebrate fauna of the Baltic. Ark. Zool. 9, 389–419 (1956)

    Google Scholar 

  • Frydenberg, O., A. O. Gyldenholm, J. P. Hjorth and V. Simonsen: Genetics of Zoarces populations. III. Geographic variations in the esterase polymorphism EstIII. Hereditas 73, 233–238 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant, W. S.: Biochemical population genetics of Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus. Copeia 2, 357–364 (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, H. and D. A. Hopkinson. Handbook of enzyme electrophoresis in human genetics. Amsterdam: North-Holland 1976

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartog, C. den: The amphipods of the deltaic region of the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt in relation to the hydrography of the area. Part 3. The Gammaridae. Netherlands J. Sea Res. 2, 407–457 (1964)

    Google Scholar 

  • Jazdzewski, K.: Ecology of gammarids in the Bay of Puck. Oikos Suppl. 15, 121–126 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kimura, M.: Evolutionary rate at the molecular level. Nature Lond. 217, 624–626 (1968)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kimura, M.: The neutral theory of molecular evolution. Sci. Am. 241, 98–129 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • King, J. L. and T. H. Jukes: Non-Darwinian evolution. Science, N.Y. 164, 788–798 (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinne, O.: Die Gammarus-Arten der Kieler Bucht. Zool. Jb. Abt. System. Ökol. Geogr. 82, 405–424 (1954)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinne, O.: Growth, moulting frequency, heart beat, number of eggs and incubation time in Gammarus zaddachi exposed to different environments. Crustaceana 2, 26–36 (1961)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolding, S.: A key for marine and brackish water Gammarus species (Crustacea, Amphipoda). Natura Jutl. 19, 57–60 (1981a)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolding, S.: Habitat selection and life cycle characteristics of five species of the amphipod genus Gammarus in the Baltic. Oikos 37, 173–178 (1981b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolding, S. and T. M. Fenchel: Coexistence and life cycle characteristics of five species of the amphipod genus Gammarus. Oikos 33, 323–327 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolding, S. and T. M. Fenchel: Patterns of reproduction in different populations of five species of the amphipod genus Gammarus. Oikos 37, 167–172 (1981)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolding, S. and V. Simonsen: Phylogenetic relationships of five species of the amphipod genus Gammarus. Zool. Scr. 12, 215–219 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lassen, H. H.: Report on population genetic investigations of the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis in Øresund (in Danish). Ph.D. thesis, Science Faculty, Univ. Aarhus, Denmark 1977

    Google Scholar 

  • Levins, R.: Evolution in changing environments. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press 1968

    Google Scholar 

  • Magaard, L. and G. Rheinheimer. Meereskunde der Ostsee. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer-Verlag 1974

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayr, E.: Animal species and evolution. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press 1966

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayr, E.: Principles of systematic zoology. New York: McGraw-Hill 1969

    Google Scholar 

  • Nei, M.: Genetic distances between populations. Am. Nat. 106, 283–292 (1972)

    Google Scholar 

  • Nevo, E.: Genetic structure and differentiation during speciation in fossorial gerbil rodents. Mammalia 46, 523–530 (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillip, D. P., H. R. Parker and G. S. Whitt: Evolution of gene regulation: isozymic analysis of patterns of gene expression during hybrid fish development. Isozymes: Curr. Top. biol. med. Res. 10, Gen. Evol. 193–237 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryman, N., U. Lagercrantz, L. Andersson, R. Chakraborty and R. Rosenberg: Lack of correspondence between genetic and morphologic variability patterns in Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus). Heredity 53, 687–704 (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  • Segerstråle, S. G.: The amphopods on the coast of Finland-some facts and problems. Soc. Scient. Fenn., Comment. Biol. 10, 1–28 (1950)

    Google Scholar 

  • Segerstråle, S. G.: Synopsis of data on the crustaceans Gammarus locusta, Gammarus oceanicus, Pontoporeia affinis, and Corophium volunator (Amphipoda Gammaridea). Soc. Scient. Fenn., Comment. Biol. 20, 1–23 (1959)

    Google Scholar 

  • Sigismund, H. R., V. Simonsen and S. Kolding: Genetic studies of Gammarus. I. Genetic differentiation of local populations. Hereditas. 102, 1–13 (1985)

    Google Scholar 

  • Sick, K.: Haemoglobin polymorphism of cod in the Baltic and the Danish Belt Sea. Hereditas 54, 19–48 (1965)

    Google Scholar 

  • Spooner, G. M.: The distribution of Gammarus species in estuaries. Part I. J. mar. biol. Ass., U.K. 27, 1–52 (1947)

    Google Scholar 

  • Spooner, G. M.: On Gammarus zaddachi oceanicus Segerstråle. J. mar. biol. Ass., U.K. 30, 129–147 (1951)

    Google Scholar 

  • Theisen, B. F.: Allozyme clines and evidence of strong selection in three loci in Mytilus edulis L. (Bivalvia) from Danish waters. Ophelia 17, 135–142 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  • White, M. J. D.: Modes of speciation. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company 1977

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Aarhus, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    S. Kolding

Authors
  1. S. Kolding
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Communicated by T. Fenchel, Aarhus

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kolding, S. Genetic adaptation to local habitats and speciation processes within the genus Gammarus (Amphipoda: Crustacea). Mar. Biol. 89, 249–255 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393658

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393658

Keywords

Search

Navigation