in this study, growth and survival of the caspian whitefish, rutilus frisii kutum, (mean weight 0.59±0.06g) have been estimated at different rearing salinities (0, 5 and 10‰) and temperatures (24 and 28˚c). maximum fish weight gain (493.65±14.07%) and specific growth rate (sgr) (2.74±0.15%), and minimum feed conversion ratio (fcr) (1.66±0.06) were obtained at salinity of 5‰ and temperature of 2...

Studies of phenotype-environment associations in adaptive radiation have focused largely on morphological traits related to resource-based phenotypic differences. The genetic basis of adaptive behaviors implicated in population divergence remains poorly understood, as few studies have tested the hypothesis of behavioral phenotype-environment associations. We provide evidence of a phenotype-envi...

In contrast to the large amount of ecological information supporting the role of natural selection as a main cause of population divergence and speciation, an understanding of the genomic basis underlying those processes is in its infancy. In this paper, we review the main findings of a long-term research programme that we have been conducting on the ecological genomics of sympatric forms of wh...

Species living in comparable habitats often display strikingly similar patterns of specialization, suggesting that natural selection can lead to predictable evolutionary changes. Elucidating the genomic basis underlying such adaptive phenotypic changes is a major goal in evolutionary biology. Increasing evidence indicates that natural selection would first modulate gene regulation during the pr...

Adaptive radiation is the evolution of ecological and phenotypical diversity. It arises via ecological opportunity that promotes the exploration of underutilized or novel niches mediating specialization and reproductive isolation. The assumed precondition for rapid local adaptation is diversifying natural selection, but random genetic drift could also be a major driver of this process. We used ...

We compared mitochondrial DNA and gill-raker number variation in populations of the European whitefish Coregonus lavaretus (L.) species complex to illuminate their evolutionary history, and discuss mechanisms behind diversification. Using single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and sequencing 528 bp of combined parts of the cytochrome oxidase b (cyt b) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 3 (N...

Genomewide analyses of the transcriptome have confirmed that gene misexpression may underlie reproductive isolation mechanisms in interspecific hybrids. Here, using a 16,006 features cDNA microarray, we compared and contrasted gene expression divergence at two ontogenetic stages in incipient species of normal and dwarf whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) with that of first generation (normal x d...

The pygmy whitefish Prosopium coulterii (C. H. Eigenmann & R. S. Eigenmann, 1892) is a freshwater fish with highly disjunct distribution ranging from the middle part of North America to Chukotka. There still no consensus regarding its phylogeny and dispersal history due limited information Chukotkan range. We investigated 22 lakes over Chukotka found much broader than it was previously thou...

Several studies have recently reported evidence for positive selection acting on the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome), emphasizing its potential role in adaptive divergence and speciation. In this study we searched 107 full mitogenomes of recently diverged species and lineages of whitefish (Coregonus ssp.) for signals of positive selection. These salmonids show several distinct morphological a...