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Why are marine adaptive radiations rare in Hawai'i?
Author(s) -
Wainwright Peter C.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.13063
Subject(s) - biology , adaptive radiation , evolutionary biology , rare events , ecology , genetics , phylogenetics , gene , statistics , mathematics
Islands can be sites of dynamic evolutionary radiations, and the Hawaiian Islands have certainly given us a bounty of insights into the processes and mechanisms of diversification. Adaptive radiations in silverswords and honeycreepers have inspired a generation of biologists with evidence of rapid diversification that resulted in exceptional levels of ecological and morphological diversity. In this issue of M olecular E cology , tiny waterfall‐climbing gobies make a case for their place among Hawaiian evolutionary elite. Moody et al . ([Moody KN, 2015]) present an analysis of gene flow and local adaptation in six goby populations on K aua'i and H awai'i measured in three consecutive years to try to disentangle the relative role of local adaptation and gene flow in shaping diversity within S icyopterus stimpsoni . Their study shows that strong patterns of local selection result in streams with gobies adapted to local conditions in spite of high rates of gene flow between stream populations and no evidence for significant genetic population structure. These results help us understand how local adaptation and gene flow are balanced in gobies, but these fishes also offer themselves as a model that illustrates why adaptive diversification in H awai'i's marine fauna is so different from the terrestrial fauna.