Countergradient variation in growth among newly hatched Fundulus heteroclitus: Geographic differences revealed by common-environment experiments

1. Experiments were designed to reveal geographic differentiation, and its evolutionary significance, in early life-history characters of Fundulus heteroclitus. The inherited capacity for growth was studied for five populations, from South Carolina to Maine, USA, at three temperatures representative of field conditions. Two generations of newly hatched fish were reared and tested. The second generation of fish was produced from parents that were themselves reared in the laboratory, in order to control for maternally transmitted environmental effects. 2. Over the first three weeks post-hatch, individuals from northern populations grew more rapidly than those from southern populations at higher temperatures (21 and 28 degrees C) whereas there were generally no differences among populations at the lowest temperature (17 degrees C). 3. The results do not conform to thermal adaptation models, in which northern populations are expected to show higher growth rates than southern populations at cold temperatures, and vice versa at higher temperatures. Instead, the higher growth rate of northern fish is interpreted as an adaptation to a short growing season. This represents an example of countergradient variation, in that genetic influences favouring rapid growth at high latitudes oppose the environmental effect of a shorter growing season. The dine of growth rates is concordant with morphological, behavioural and genetic contrasts between subspecies of Fundulus heteroclitus.