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Early developmental plasticity and integrative responses in arctic charr ( Salvelinus alpinus ): effects of water velocity on body size and shape
Author(s) -
Grünbaum Thomas,
Cloutier Richard,
Mabee Paula M.,
Le François Nathalie R.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of experimental zoology part b: molecular and developmental evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1552-5015
pISSN - 1552-5007
DOI - 10.1002/jez.b.21163
Subject(s) - salvelinus , ontogeny , biology , phenotypic plasticity , plasticity , developmental plasticity , arctic , trait , ecology , zoology , evolutionary biology , fish <actinopterygii> , trout , genetics , physics , fishery , computer science , programming language , thermodynamics
Environmental conditions such as temperature and water velocity may induce changes among alternative developmental pathways, i.e. phenotypic responses, in vertebrates. However, the extent to which the environment induces developmental plasticity and integrated developmental responses during early ontogeny of fishes remains poorly documented. We analyzed the responses of newly hatched Arctic charr ( Salvelinus alpinus ) to four experimental water velocities during 100 days of development. To our knowledge, this work is the first to analyze developmental plasticity responses of body morphology to an experimental gradient of water velocities during early ontogeny of fish. Arctic charr body size and shape responses show first, that morphometric traits display significant differences between low and high water velocities, thus revealing directional changes in body traits. Secondly, trait variation allows the recognition of critical ontogenetic periods that are most responsive to environmental constraints (40–70 and 80–90 days) and exhibit different levels of developmental plasticity. This is supported by the observation of asynchronous timing of variation peaks among treatments. Third, morphological interaction of traits is developmentally plastic and time‐dependent. We suggest that developmental responses of traits plasticity and interaction at critical ontogenetic periods are congruent with specific environmental conditions to maintain the functional integrity of the organism. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 308B:396–408, 2007 . © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.