title: Functional morphology of the tetra fish Astyanax lacustris differs between divergent habitats in the Pantanal wetlands.
abstract: This study investigated whether the body morphology of the tetra fish Astyanax lacustris (previously Astyanax asuncionensis) varied between populations inhabiting one lagoon (a lentic, shallow environment, with great habitat complexity created by aquatic macrophytes) and an adjacent river (a deeper, lotic environment where aquatic macrophytes are scarce) in a seasonally flooded wetland, despite population mixing during the wet season. Morphological differences matched a priori predictions of the theory relating functional body morphology and swimming performance in fishes between lagoon and river habitats. Observed morphological variation could have resulted from adaptive habitat choice by tetras, predation by piscivores and adaptive phenotypic plasticity during development.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós Graduação em Ecologia & Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual Paulista 'Julio de Mesquita Filho', Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Costa-Pereira
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista 'Julio de Mesquita Filho', Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.affiliation: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Paiva
authors.affiliation: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: L E R
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Tavares
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D060126:Characidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D017753:Ecosystem; D055868:Floods; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D045483:Rivers; D012621:Seasons; D013550:Swimming; D053833:Wetlands
keywords: flood pulse; floodplain lagoon; phenotypic divergence