Laserfiche WebLink
644 <br />COPEIA, 1995, NO. 3 <br />have supported the view that G. robusta and G. <br />cypha represent distinct species, though "inter- <br />grades" have been detected in varying frequen- <br />cies. Our results similarly argue for treating G. <br />robusta and G. cypha as separate species; despite <br />the presence of intermediates, the two forms <br />were clearly distinct both in sympatry and in <br />allopatry. In fact, the intermediate specimens <br />in our sample could be assigned to species with <br />confidence, suggesting that morphological dis- <br />tinctiveness of G. robusta and G. cypha is suffi- <br />cient to categorize individuals despite high lev- <br />els of variability. This would not necessarily be <br />expected if the bases for a priori assignment of <br />intermediates were more random than real <br />(McElroy and Kornfield, 1993). Further, this <br />variability may not to be a ubiquitous feature <br />of populations of Gila (Smith et al., 1979; Doug- <br />las et al., 1989; Kaeding et al., 1990): the ma- <br />jority of intermediates in our data set were col- <br />lected from Cataract and Desolation canyons, <br />and these populations may be subject to evo- <br />lutionary forces not operating, or less impor- <br />tant, at other localities (see below). <br />Only one study to date has addressed the issue <br />of intraspecific population divergence in upper <br />basin Gila. Holden and Stalnaker (1970) argued <br />that populations of both G. robusta and G. cypha <br />were homogeneous morphologically. However, <br />their analysis relied on ordinal data and, thus, <br />provided limited resolving power (Smith et al., <br />1979; Douglas et al., 1989). By contrast, we <br />found subtle but significant differences in mor- <br />phology among all populations in both species. <br />This structure is overlain on patterns of varia- <br />tion at the species level, as a posteriori assign- <br />ments of all individuals to species agreed with <br />a priori classications despite the existence of <br />among-population differences. Our results also <br />indicate that an isolation by distance model of <br />gene flow among populations cannot account <br />for these differences (Fig. 4): the lack of matrix <br />correlation between canonical and river mile <br />distances among populations of both species <br />suggests that local processes must contribute to <br />distinctiveness of groups. The nature of these <br />additional biological forces (e.g., hybridization, <br />selection, gene flow) remains to be elucidated. <br />The most intriguing aspect of our data con- <br />cerns the relationships of populations at the ge- <br />neric level. In particular, although G. robusta <br />and G. cypha are in general distinct morpholog- <br />ically both in sympatry and allopatry, the two <br />species converge morphologically at Cataract <br />and Desolation canyons. At these sites, a locality <br />effect appears to contribute significantly to re- <br />lationships among populations; by contrast, a <br />species effect appears to dominate relationships <br />among other populations (Fig. 7). The Cataract <br />and Desolation population pairs are clearly dis- <br />tinct from all other groups (and from one an- <br />other) in all analyses. This dichotomy between <br />species and locality effects suggests that popu- <br />lation dynamics of G. robusta and G. cypha in <br />Cataract and Desolation canyons may differ <br />qualitatively from those of other populations of <br />Gila in the upper basin. The structure of these <br />populations may be driven by biological forces <br />(see below) whose effects are less pronounced <br />elsewhere. The uniqueness of the G. cypha pop- <br />ulation at Cataract Canyon has been noted pre- <br />viously: specimens from this area tend to be <br />smaller, deeper bodied, and less extreme mor- <br />phologically than are G. cypha from other lo- <br />calities (R. Valdez, Bio/West, Inc., pers. comm.). <br />It has been suggested that these fish represent <br />remnants of a much larger population that in- <br />habited the region prior to closure of Glen Can- <br />yon Dam (Holden and Stalnaker, 1975). Time <br />series data that might provide insight into this <br />hypothesis are currently being analyzed to ex- <br />amine changes in morphology over the past cen- <br />tury U. Lynch, pers. comm.). <br />Potential bases for the locality effect. -We postulate <br />three explanations for the morphological con- <br />vergence of heterospecific populations at Des- <br />olation and Cataract canyons. First, the simi- <br />larity of G. robusta and G. cypha at these localities <br />may reflect extensive introgressive hybridiza- <br />tion, either occurring naturally or as a result of <br />human intervention. Second, sympatric popu- <br />lations may be subject to similar selection pres- <br />sures within each of these localities, i.e., the <br />observed locality effect may reflect parallel local <br />adaptation of the two species in Desolation and <br />Cataract canyons. Third, populations of both <br />species at these sites may retain a high propor- <br />tion of ancestral traits, and their apparent sim- <br />ilarity may be a consequence of shared primitive <br />characteristics. These explanations are not mu- <br />tually exclusive. It is unlikely, however, that our <br />results reflect an inability to consistently char- <br />acterize species, because this would lead to poor <br />classification of individual specimens. Although <br />complementary genetic studies might be useful <br />in evaluating the relative contribution of each <br />alternative, the likelihood of each based on ex- <br />isting data is considered below. <br />Hybridization appears to have played a po- <br />tentially significant role in the evolutionary dy- <br />namics of the G. robusta group (DeMarais et al., <br />1992; Dowling and DeMarais, 1993). A hybrid <br />origin for G. seminuda, long suspected (Ellis, <br />1914; Miller, 1946; Smith et al., 1979), has been <br />substantiated by comparison of morphological,