Cuveliers, E.

Diopere, E.

Hellemans, B.

Maes, G.E.

Mollet, F.M.

Rijnsdorp, A.D.

Volckaert, F.A.M.

Open Marine Archive

ICES CM 2010/M:16 
The molecular basis of phenotypic adaptive changes in the common sole (Solea 
solea): disentangling fisheries from climate-induced evolution 
G. E. Maes, E. Diopere, E. Cuveliers, F. Mollet, B. Hellemans, A. D. Rijnsdorp, and F. A. 
M. Volckaert 
Recent studies have strongly indicated fishery-induced evolution of important life-
history traits, such as age and size at maturation, growth, or reproductive effort in ex-
ploited fish populations. Most evidence is based on the analysis of phenotypic data, 
showing changes in maturation reaction norms, which for many species and popula-
tions have changed markedly over historical times corresponding to the intensity of 
fishing. However, the molecular basis of fishery-induced evolution has not been proved 
yet and requires further attention. We studied the neutral and adaptive genetic changes 
potentially induced by fisheries through the retrospective analysis of DNA from histori-
cal otolith collections from the North Sea sole population, which has been subjected to 
heavy harvesting for over 60 years. We evaluated the evolutionary trajectories of candi-
date genes involved in the growth axis and the brain–pituitary–gonad axis. We quanti-
fied the selective effects of fisheries on adaptive genetic variation and compared this 
pattern with a relatively stable neutral genetic baseline. Finally, we assessed the agree-
ment between fisheries selection gradient and the direction of molecular genetic 
changes observed in sole, while estimating the proportional importance of alternative 
drivers (such as temperature increase) for creating the observed life-history changes. 
Keywords: adaptive variation, climate change, fishery-induced evolution, management, over-
fishing, sole. 
Contact author: Gregory Maes, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Laboratory of Animal Diversity and 
Systematics, Ch. Deberiostraat 32, 3000 Leuven, Belgium [e-mail: Gregory.maes@bio.kuleuven.be]. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


The molecular basis of phenotypic adaptive changes in the common sole (<i>Solea solea</i> L.): disentangling fisheries from climate induced evolution

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