Abstract
This thesis sums up several approaches on how the threespine stickleback are handling salinity changes, both over long time periods, through population genetic and morphometric analysis, and over shorter time periods, by exposing fish from saltwater and freshwater to their native and opposite salinity, before measuring oxygen consumption, gene regulation and sperm movement. The results showed that there are genetic and morphometric differences between populations inhabiting different salinities, but there were few major short-time changes in oxygen consumption, gene regulation, and sperm mobility.
List of papers
Paper I. A. Taugbøl, C. Junge, T.P. Quinn, A. Herland & L.A. Vøllestad. 2014. Genetic and morphometric divergence in threespine stickleback in the Chignik catchment, Alaska. Ecology and Evolution, 4 (2): 144-156. doi: 10.1002/ece3.918. The article is included in the thesis. Also available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.918 |
Paper II. A. Taugbøl, T.P. Quinn, K. Østbye & L.A. Vøllestad. 2020. Allometric relationships in morphological traits associated with foraging, swimming ability, and predator defense reveal adaptations toward brackish and freshwater environments in the threespine stickleback. Ecology and Evolution, 10: 13412-13426. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6945. The article is included in the thesis. Also available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6945 |
Paper III. K. Grøtan, K. Østbye, A. Taugbøl & L.A Vøllestad. 2012. No short-term effect of salinity on oxygen consumption in threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) from fresh, brackish, and salt water. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 90 (12): 1386-1393. doi:10.1139/cjz-2012-0121. The article is not available in DUO due to publisher restrictions. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2012-0121 |
Paper IV. A.Taugbøl, T. Arntsen, K. Østbye & L.A.Vøllestad. 2014. Small changes in gene expression of targeted osmoregulatory genes when exposing marine and freshwater threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) to abrupt salinity transfers. PLOS ONE, 9 (9): 144-156. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106894. The article is included in the thesis. Also available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106894 |
Paper V. A. Taugbøl, M. Solbakken, K.S. Jacobsen & L.A. Vøllestad. 2022. Salinity-induced transcriptome profiles in marine and freshwater threespine stickleback. Ecology and Evolution, 12 (10). DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9395. The article is included in the thesis. Also available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9395 |
Paper VI. A. Taugbøl, A.B. Mazzarella, E.R.A Cramer & T. Laskemoen. 2017. Salinity-induced phenotypic plasticity in threespine stickleback sperm
activation. Biology Letters, 13 (10): 1-4. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0516. The article is not available in DUO due to publisher restrictions. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2017.0516 |