title: The role of calcium and predation on plate morph evolution in the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).
abstract: While the genetic basis to plate morph evolution of the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is well described, the environmental variables that select for different plate and spine morphs are incompletely understood. Using replicate populations of three-spined sticklebacks on North Uist, Scotland, we previously investigated the role of predation pressure and calcium limitation on the adaptive evolution of stickleback morphology and behavior. While dissolved calcium proved a significant predictor of plate and spine morph, predator abundance did not. Ecol. Evol., xxx, 2014 and xxx performed a comparable analysis to our own to address the same question. They failed to detect a significant effect of dissolved calcium on morphological evolution, but did establish a significant effect of predation; albeit in the opposite direction to their prediction.
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, University of St. Andrews St. Andrews, KY16 8LB, U.K.
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, University of St. Andrews St. Andrews, KY16 8LB, U.K.
authors.forename: Rowena
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Spence
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Leicester Leicester, LE1 7RH, U.K.
authors.forename: Iain
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Barber
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Vertebrate Zoology, University of Łódź Łódź, Poland.
authors.forename: Mirosław
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Przybylski
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3DA, U.K.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Wootton
keywords: Adaptation; Gasterosteus aculeatus; calcium concentration; natural selection; phenotypic adaptation; selective predation