1. Cross-Dressing Salmon
By Tom Horvath SUNY College at Oneonta

2. CQ#1: Which statement best describes natural selection?
Survival of the fittest.
The strongest individuals get to reproduce.
The best adapted individuals survive and reproduce.
Survival and reproduction is a matter of luck.

4. Typical Salmon Life Cycle
Female salmon dig the redd (gravel nest) with tail.
Male protects redd from other potential spawners & attracts females.
Females deposit eggs while male fertilizes eggs (external fertilization).
Embryos hatch and develop into alevins.
Alevins emerge as fry from the redd and start actively searching for food.
After a period of growth in fresh water, anadromous species will start their downstream migration to the sea.
Silvery smolts undergo a series of physiological and morphological changes that acclimate them to the salt water conditions.
Smolts feed and grow to fully developed adult salmon.
Adult salmon return to their natal stream to spawn (reproduce).
Most salmon spawn only once during their lifetime (semelparous).
The majority of salmon species die within a week of spawning.

5. Movie Clip

6. CQ#2: Out of all the eggs a female lays, how many hatchlings (or smolts) do you think will survive to spawn?
50% (50 out of 100)
10% (10 out of 100)
1% (1 out of 100)
0.1% (1 out of 1000)
Less than 0.1 %
Mass of fertilized salmon eggs

7. About 0.03% survive & reproduce themselves
Source:
About 0.03% survive & reproduce themselves

8. Which are the lucky few who make it to reproduce?
Rhetorical

9. Charles Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection
It is not just random luck.
Some individuals have a better chance of surviving and reproducing than others.
Source:

10. CQ#3: Are all these smolts ABSOLUTELY identical?
A: Yes B: No

11. Variation in salmon translates into variations in survival and reproductive success.

12. Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
More offspring produced than survive to adulthood (OVERPRODUCTION).
Variation among individuals of a species.

13. What good is variation?
Talk to your neighbor and list as many characteristics a salmon may posses that helps it survive.

14. ADAPTATION
Any characteristic that improves the survival or reproductive success of an organism.
Often the result of natural selection.
Organisms match closely with their environment.

15. Survival is only half the story – you have to reproduce to pass on those good traits that aided survival to this point.

16. Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
More offspring produced than survive to adulthood (OVERPRODUCTION).
Inheritable variation among individuals of a species.
Best adapted individuals survive and reproduce (UNEQUAL REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS).

17. Typical Dominant Male Phenotype

18. Movie Clip Focus on the male defending redd.
Time point in clip is 0:25.

19. The most dominant males (usually largest and most aggressive) successfully defend their redds and inseminate the eggs. Smaller males that also have the kype lose out in head-to-head competition with larger males. CQ#4: Are we seeing “survival of the fittest” in action here? A. Yes B. No

20. A Different Type of Male
Female Mimic
Lack dominant male characteristics (e.g., no kype).
Appear more female-like.
Disadvantage: They can’t compete head-to-head with dominant males either, but….

21. Why do these non-dominant males persist in the population over time
Why do these non-dominant males persist in the population over time? Why don’t female mimics get weeded out through natural selection if they are not fit?

22. CQ#5: Why are female mimics still found in each generation?
Some outcompete the dominant males in the redds.
They appear from mutations randomly each generation.
They have a different reproductive strategy from dominant males and it works.
Some females change into males under stressful environmental conditions.

23. Cross-Dressing Salmon
Female mimics can stay near the redds because dominant males don’t see them as competition; they think they are females.
These fish get a brief chance to inseminate a few eggs before being ultimately bumped out by dominant males.

24. CQ#6: Even though female mimics are not dominant, are they fit. A
CQ#6: Even though female mimics are not dominant, are they fit? A. Yes B. No

25. Survival of the Fittest?
Source:
Darwinian fitness: contribution an individual makes to the gene pool of the next generation relative to the contribution of others.

26. Fitness can be compared with relative values (values from 1 to 0)
A fitness value of 1 is assigned to the phenotype with the highest representation.
All other phenotypes are assigned based on their reproductive success relative to the dominant type.

27. Fitness Value Example
Dominant male phenotype produces 300 male offspring in the next generation.
Female mimic phenotype produces 50 male offspring in the next generation.
Small male phenotype produce only 5 male offspring.
Dominant Male Phenotype – Fitness = 300/300 = 1.0
Female Mimic Phenotype – Fitness = 50/300 = 0.17
Small Male Phenotype – Fitness = 5/300 = 0.02

28. Natural Selection
Analyzing change in frequency of traits in a population:
Three patterns emerge:
Directional selection
Stabilizing selection
Disruptive selection

29. Natural Selection
Directional Selection -Individuals of one extreme phenotype favored.
Stabilizing Selection - Individuals with intermediate phenotype favored;
Extreme phenotypes selected against.
Disruptive Selection - Both extreme phenotypes favored; intermediate phenotypes selected against.

30. Directional Selection
Individuals of one extreme phenotype favored
Population under
directional selection
Population with
no natural selection
Frequency
Similar (and better) images can be found in most text books
Body Size of Salmon

31. Stabilizing Selection
Individuals with intermediate phenotype favored; extreme phenotypes selected against
Population under
stabilizing selection
Frequency
Population with
no natural selection
Similar (and better) images can be found in most text books
Body Size of Salmon

32. Disruptive Selection Frequency Body Size of Salmon
Both extreme phenotypes favored; intermediate phenotypes selected against
Population with
no natural selection
Population under
disruptive selection
Frequency
Similar (and better) images can be found in most text books
Body Size of Salmon

33. CQ#7: Given our fitness value from the example, which pattern of selection would we expect in the salmon population?
Directional selection
Stabilizing selection
Disruptive selection
Unnatural selection

34. CQ#8: Do individuals have to be the “strongest” to be fit?
Yes No

35. CQ#9: Which of these traits might confer fitness upon an individual?
Being sneaky and tricking the dominant males into letting you hang around the spawning females.
Having an awesome hook on your jaw and large body size.
Having sperm that are extra good at finding and fertilizing eggs.
Being extra good at storing fat, which will fuel all that waterfall jumping while migrating upstream.
Any of the above will increase fitness.

36. Slide Credits Slide 1 , Slide 19 , and Slide 24 Slide 3
Description: Spawning salmon.
Author: Andrew Holland, Timberwolf Photography,
Source: The Adams River Salmon Society
Link:
Clearance: ©Andrew Holland, used with permission.
Slide 3
Description: Diagram of the salmon life cycle.
Source: USDA Forest Service—Tongass National Forest
Link:
Clearance: Public domain, a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.
Slide 6 and Slide 8
Description: Mass of salmon eggs.
Source: Bonneville Power Administration, United States Department of Energy
Link:
Clearance: Public domain, courtesy of BPA.

37. Slide 7—Left Slide 9 Slide 10 and Slide 13 Slide 11
Description: Survival chart for an average salmon family.
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Link:
Clearance: Public domain, a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.
Slide 9
Description: Water-colour portrait of Charles Darwin.
Author: George Richmond
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Link:
Clearance: A faithful reproduction of an original two-dimensional work of art from the late 1830s. The work of art itself is in the public domain and its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, Australia, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or fewer.
Slide 10 and Slide 13
Description: Salmon smolts.
Source: Bonneville Power Administration, United States Department of Energy
Link:
Clearance: Public domain, courtesy of BPA.
Slide 11
Description: Mass of salmon.

38. Slide 17 Slide 20 and Slide 33 Slide 22 Slide 23 Slide 25
Description: Male salmon showing hook nose (kype).
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Link:
Clearance: Public domain, a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.
Slide 20 and Slide 33
Description: Male and Female sockeye salmon.
Source: Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Link:
Clearance: Permissible non-commercial reproduction in accordance with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Slide 22
Description: Illustration of single salmon.
Source: USDA Forest Service—Tongass National Forest
Link:
Slide 23
Description: Sockeye salmon spawning in an Alaskan stream.
Author: Wyatt Rivard
Source: Dreamstime.com, ID
Clearance: Copyrighted, licensed, royalty free.
Slide 25
Description: .
Link: