Premium
LOCALIZED ADAPTATION OF CLONES OF THE SEA ANEMONE ACTINIA TENEBROSA
Author(s) -
Ayre David J.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1985.tb05691.x
Subject(s) - biology , sea anemone , anemone , fecundity , adaptation (eye) , panmixia , hermaphrodite , coelenterata , asexual reproduction , cnidaria , ecology , coral , zoology , evolutionary biology , genetic structure , genetic variation , population , genetics , gene , demography , neuroscience , sociology
Adult Actinia tenebrosa were reciprocally transplanted within and between colonies separated by 2 or 4 km. These experiments revealed powerful genetic and environmental effects on adult size and asexual fecundity and demonstrate that clones may be highly locally adapted. Local adults displayed significantly greater asexual fecundity than do adults transplanted from other colonies, although all groups showed similar survivorships. This provides the first demonstration of fine scale adaptation, in either terrestrial or marine environments, for a clonal species with large, panmictic sexually breeding populations. These findings, together with the results of earlier studies of this species, strongly support the assumptions and predictions of the Strawberry‐Coral Model (Williams, 1975).