E-Book Overview
Highlighting the growing importance of the sticklebacks as a model species in emerging fields such as molecular genetics, genomics, and environmental toxicology, Biology of the Three-Spined Stickleback examines data from researchers who use studies of the stickleback to address a wide range of biological issues. This state-of-the-art volume is the first comprehensive review of the biological research on this important fish in more than a decade. The book presents current knowledge on the geographic and genetic variation of the ubiquitous three-spined stickleback and explores the possibility of any subdivision within currently recognized stickleback species. It provides a summary of important new molecular tools available, and how these tools can be used to study the genetic architecture and molecular basis of evolutionary change in different stickleback populations around the world. The book also lays out their physiology, historical factors, geographic distribution, and describes the features of their biology that seem to promote rapid speciation. It covers reproductive behavior in chronological order, and the mechanisms and selection pressures behind the activities that sticklebacks perform during the different phases of the breeding season. Full of cutting-edge data, the book discusses the umwelt of the three-spine stickleback, with particular reference to how that world interacts with and shapes intraspecific communication during the breeding season. It covers developments in stickleback reproductive physiology from 1991 onward and summarizes studies performed — mainly within the fields of behavioral ecology and physiology — on some of the less-studied stickleback species. The book touches on the biology, in particular the behavioral ecology, of the 15-spined stickleback. Emphasizing the importance of the sticklebacks to a variety of disciplines, this book presents information that is both extensive and authoritative.
E-Book Content
3219_C000.fm Page i Thursday, November 9, 2006 12:13 PM Biology of the Three-Spined Stickleback 3219_C000.fm Page ii Thursday, November 9, 2006 12:13 PM Marine Biology SERIES Peter L. Lutz, Editor PUBLISHED TITLES Biology of Marine Birds E.A. Schreiber and Joanna Burger Biology of the Spotted Seatrout Stephen A. Bortone The Biology of Sea Turtles, Volume II Peter L. Lutz, John A. Musick, and Jeanette Wyneken Biology of Sharks and Their Relatives Jeffrey C. Carrier, John A. Musick, and Michael R. Heithaus Early Stages of Atlantic Fishes: An Identification Guide for the Western Central North Atlantic William Richards The Physiology of Fishes, Third Edition David H. Evans Biology of the Southern Ocean, Second Edition George A. Knox 3219_C000.fm Page iii Thursday, November 9, 2006 12:13 PM Biology of the Three-Spined Stickleback Edited by Sara Östlund-Nilsson Ian Mayer Felicity Anne Huntingford Boca Raton London New York CRC Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business 3219_C000.fm Page iv Thursday, November 9, 2006 12:13 PM CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742 © 2007 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U.S. Government works Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number-10: 0-8493-3219-2 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-8493-3219-7 (Hardcover) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reprinted material is quoted with permission, and sources are indicated. A wide variety of references are listed. Reasonable efforts have been made t