Monta ratkaisua samaan onglemaan: evoluution vaihtoehtoiset reitit geneettisen variaation puuttuessa

Changing environment imposes new selective pressures on natural populations. For natural selection to cause evolution, genetic variance is needed. The aim of this project is to find out how populations, which lack genetic variation that is needed for the evolution of an advantageous trait in novel environment, can respond to the changed selective pressures by alternative means. A holistic approach is taken, where both selective pressures and genetic basis of the alternative routes of evolution in threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) are quantified in detail. Therefore, this project will also further our understanding of adaptive divergence and evolutionary change at a more general level.