Summary
Heritabilities of dorsal spine number in Apeltes quadracus are estimated for four widely separated sites in New Brunswick, Canada. The additive genetic variance is high with values ranging from 0·47±0·049 to 0·80±0·128; average heritability for the four sites is 0·61 ± 0·068. The sexes do not differ for estimates. Directional selection over three generations shows a rapid response suggesting that few loci are involved and that stabilizing selection acts on natural populations.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Baggerman, B. 1957. An experimental study on the timing of breeding and migration in the threespin stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus L. Arch, neerl Zool, 12, 105–318.
Blouw, D M. 1982. The Adaptive Significance of a Polymorphism for Dorsal Spine Number in Apeltes quadracus and Comparison With Several Coexisting Sticklebacks. Ph.D. Thesis, University of New Brunswick.
Blouw, D M, and Hagen, D W. 1981. Ecology of the fourspine stickleback, Apeltes quadracus, with respect to a polymorphism for dorsal spine number. Can J Zool, 59, 1677–1692.
Falconer, D S. 1981. Introduction to Quantitative Genetics. Longman, New York.
Krueger, W H. 1961. Meristic variation in the fourspine stickleback, Apeltes quadracus. Copeia, 4, 442–450.
Reeve, E C R. 1955. The variance of the genetic correlation coefficient. Biometrics, 11, 357–374.
Rutledge, J J, Eisen, E J, and Legates, J E. 1973. An experimental evaluation of genetic correlation. Genetics 75, 709–726.
Wright, S. 1969. The theoretical course of directional selection. Amer Nat, 103, 561–574.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hagen, D., Blouw, D. Heritability of dorsal spines in the fourspine stickleback (Apeltes quadracus). Heredity 50, 275–281 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1983.29
Received:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1983.29
This article is cited by
-
Morphometric and meristic variation in Galician threespine stickleback populations, northwest Spain
Environmental Biology of Fishes (2005)
-
Natural selection and the heritability of fitness components
Heredity (1987)
-
The adaptive significance of dorsal spine variation in the fourspine stickleback, Apeltes quadracus. III. correlated traits and experimental evidence on predation
Heredity (1984)
-
The adaptive significance of dorsal spine variation in the fourspine stickleback, Apeltes quadracus. IV. phenotypic covariation with closely related species
Heredity (1984)
