Líffræðifélag Íslands
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2015
Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E96
Kalina H. Kapralova (1), Arnar Pálsson (1), Bjarni K. Kristjánsson (2), Zophonías O. Jónsson (1) and Sigurður S. Snorrason (1)
1. Líf- og umhverfisvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands, 2. Háskólinn á Hólum
Kynnir / Presenter: Sigurður S. Snorrason
Tengiliður / Corresponding author: Sigurður S. Snorrason (sigsnor@hi.is)
"Although outcrossing may in some cases enhance fitness it often leads to outbreeding depression, where hybrids between closely related species and even divergent populations of the same species exhibit lower fitness than pure progeny of parental groups. This may reflect incompatibilities of genes and is usually attributed to the breaking up of co-adapted loci or favourable epistatic relationships. Offspring from pure crosses of three sympatric morphs of Arctic charr from Lake Thingvallavatn, Iceland; large (LB) and small benthivorous (SB) and planktivorous morphs (PL) exhibit subtle but significant differences in early post-hatching craniofacial morphology. To investigate the effect of hybridisation on the developing craniofacial morphology we created reciprocal crosses between two of the morphs, PL and SB, that show contrasting trophic morphologies. Interestingly, the hybrid progeny were smaller and exhibited extreme (or transgressive) craniofacial phenotypes compared to the pure parental offspring, suggesting that the ecologically driven divergence within the lake might be enhanced by lowered fitness of hybrids."