The history of life offers plentiful examples of convergent evolution, the independent derivation of similar phenotypes in distinct lineages. The emergence of convergent phenotypes among closely related lineages (frequently termed "parallel" evolution) is often assumed to result from changes in similar genes or developmental pathways, but the genetic origins of convergence remains poorly unders...

The influence of environmental complexity on brain development has been demonstrated in a number of taxa, but the potential influence of social environment on neural architecture remains largely unexplored. We investigated experimentally the influence of social environment on the development of different brain parts in geographically and genetically isolated and ecologically divergent populatio...

Behaviors toward heterospecifics and conspecifics may be correlated because of shared mechanisms of expression in both social contexts (nonadaptive covariation) or because correlational selection favors adaptive covariation. We evaluated these hypotheses by comparing behavior toward conspecifics and heterospecifics in brook stickleback (Culaea inconstans) from three populations sympatric with a...

One of the main goals in current evolutionary biology research is to identify genes behind adaptive phenotypic variations. The advances in genomic technologies have made it possible to identify genetic loci behind these variations, also concerning non-model species. This thesis investigates the genetics of the behaviour and other adaptive traits of the nine-spined stickleback (Pungitius pungiti...

Thermal response curves that depict the probability of occurrence along a thermal gradient are used to derive various species’ properties and abilities cope with warming. However, different responses can be expected for portions species range. We focus on differences in (TRCs) niche requirements four freshwater fishes (Coregonus sardinella, Pungitius pungitius, Rutilus rutilus, Salvelinus alpin...

Although the brain is known to be a very plastic organ, the effects of common ecological interactions like predation or competition on brain development have remained largely unexplored. We reared nine-spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) from two coastal marine (predation-adapted) and two isolated pond (competition-adapted) populations in a factorial experiment, manipulating perceived pre...

Understanding the selective forces promoting adaptive population divergence is a central issue in evolutionary biology. The role of environmental salinity in driving adaptation and evolution in aquatic organisms is still poorly understood. We investigated the relative impacts of habitat type (cf. saltwater vs. freshwater) and geographic area in shaping adaptive population divergence, as well as...