Female stickleback prefer shallow males: Sexual selection on nest microhabitat.

Sexual selection is most often thought of as acting on organismal traits, such as size or color. However, individuals' habitat use may also affect mating success. Here, we show that, in threespine stickleback, nest depth can be a target of sexual selection. In postglacial lakes in British Columbia, male threespine stickleback nest in a narrow range of depths. Prior studies revealed heritable variation in males' preferred nest microhabitat. We surveyed four natural populations, finding that male stickleback with shallower nests were more successful at breeding. Indeed, nest depth was a much stronger predictor of male mating success than more commonly studied targets of sexual selection in stickleback (size, condition, shape, color, infection status). This selection on nest depth means that variance in fitness changed predictably across microhabitats, altering the opportunity for sexual selection to act on other traits. Accordingly, we show that sexual selection on other male traits is strongest where variance in nesting success is highest (at intermediate nest depths in some lakes). We conclude that males' choice of nesting microhabitat is an especially important target of sexual selection, resulting in fine-scale spatial variation in sexual selection on other traits.

Bolnick DI ，Shim KC ，Brock CD 《-》

Nonlinear effects of female mate choice in wild threespine sticklebacks.

Blais J ，Rico C ，Bernatchez L 《EVOLUTION》

Microhabitat contributes to microgeographic divergence in threespine stickleback.

Since the New Synthesis, most migration-selection balance theory has predicted that there should be negligible differentiation over small spatial scales (relative to dispersal), because gene flow should erode any effect of divergent selection. Nevertheless, there are classic examples of microgeographic divergence, which theory suggests can arise under specific conditions: exceptionally strong selection, phenotypic plasticity in philopatric individuals, or nonrandom dispersal. Here, we present evidence of microgeographic morphological variation within lake and stream populations of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). It seems reasonable to assume that a given lake or stream population of fish is well-mixed. However, we found this assumption to be untenable. We examined trap-to-trap variation in 34 morphological traits measured on stickleback from 16 lakes and 16 streams. Most traits varied appreciably among traps within populations. Both between-trap distance and microhabitat characteristics such as depth and substrate explained some of the within-population morphological variance. Microhabitat was also associated with genotype at particular loci but there was no genetic isolation by distance, implying that heritable habitat preferences may contribute to microgeographic variation. Our study adds to growing evidence that microgeographic divergence can occur across small spatial scales within individuals' daily dispersal neighborhood where gene flow is expected to be strong.

Maciejewski MF ，Jiang C ，Stuart YE ，Bolnick DI ... -  《-》

Phenotypic plasticity drives a depth gradient in male conspicuousness in threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus.

Brock CD ，Cummings ME ，Bolnick DI 《-》

Conspicuous female ornamentation and tests of male mate preference in threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus).

Wright DS ，Pierotti ME ，Rundle HD ，McKinnon JS ... -  《PLoS One》