Evolutionary history of threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus spp.) in British Columbia: insights from a physiological clock

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Geologic and allozyme evidence suggests that threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus complex) in low-lying southwestern British Columbia lakes were founded during two incursions of marine sticklebacks after the retreat of the Pleistocene glaciers (the double-invasion hypothesis). We used the salinity tolerance of embryos, measured as hatchability in salt water, to establish the relative order of freshwater invasion by marine sticklebacks and to test the double-invasion hypothesis. Limnetics and an anadromous population hatched nearly equivalent numbers of young in salt water as in fresh water, whereas benthics and one solitary freshwater population had low hatchability in salt water. We also found that eggs from freshwater populations were larger than those from marine populations and limnetics had smaller eggs than benthics and the solitary population. These results support the double-invasion hypothesis and suggest a trend of increasing egg size with increasing time spent in fresh water.