Evolution toward pollution-resistant ecotypes of Baltic threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, suggested by AFLP markers

Abstract: This study used amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) to detect changes of genetic variation in threespine stickleback exposed to industrial pollution from pulp- and paper mills along the southern east coast of Sweden. A general loss of allelic diversity was associated with exposure (table 3, linear model, F1,4=7.2 [P=0.055]) and exposed populations also displayed a similar pattern of response (fig 5) despite geographic distance, indicating that evolution toward pollution resistant ecotypes of threespine stickleback is occurring in the Baltic Sea. The result suggests that pollution can be regarded as an agent of directional selection, causing a decrease of evolutionary potential of exposed species in the Baltic Sea.