Ecology of the fourspine stickleback, Apeltes quadracus, with respect to a polymorphism for dorsal spine number

Abstract

The subject of our research is the ecological genetics of a polymorphism for dorsal spine number in Apeltes quadracus. Here we present information on its ecology and on dorsal spine variation, as background for subsequent publications.Estimating age from otoliths is subject to several serious errors, and spine sections are questionable. We have estimated generation time at about 1 year using length frequency distributions. Dorsal spine number varies from one to seven, but the four-and five-spined morphs predominate. The polymorphism is ubiquitous; where samples are available for comparisons over time, morph frequencies have remained relatively constant for at least 50 years. Sex ratio is highly variable among sites and among samples at particular sites. However, morph frequencies are independent of sex and age. Morph frequencies are homogeneous among samples taken at differing times of day, tide levels, months within a year, and among years. They are also homogeneous among microhabitats we sampled in an estuary. The relevance of these results to our subsequent publications is the following: (1) we take 1 year as the generation time, (2) sexes and ages can be pooled to estimate morph frequencies, and (3) since morph frequencies remain relatively constant, at least within the time period of our survey, comparisons of morph frequencies among sites to detect geographical and ecological patterns of variation seems valid.