Kenyon B Mobley

• Ph.D
• Associate Professor at UiT The Arctic University of Norway

The goal of this review was to provide a historical overview of how molecular techniques have increased the understanding of the ecology and evolution of the family Syngnathidae (pipefishes, seahorses and seadragons). Molecular studies based primarily on mitochondrial DNA markers have proved their worth by elucidating complex phylogenetic relations...

A long-held, but poorly tested, assumption in natural populations is that individuals that disperse into new areas for reproduction are at a disadvantage compared to individuals that reproduce in their natal habitat, underpinning the eco-evolutionary processes of local adaptation and ecological speciation. Here, we capitalize on fine-scale populati...

In species with complex life cycles, life history theory predicts that fitness is affected by conditions encountered in previous life history stages. Here, we use a four-year pedigree to investigate if time spent in two distinct life history stages has sex-specific reproductive fitness consequences in anadromous Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). We de...

Over the past decades, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar, Salmonidae) has emerged as a model system for sexual maturation research, owing to the high diversity of life history strategies, knowledge of trait genetic architecture, and their high economic value. The aim of this synthesis is to summarize the current state of knowledge concerning maturation...

Lake‐dwelling fish that form species pairs/flocks characterized by body size divergence are important model systems for speciation research. Although several sources of divergent selection have been identified in these systems, their importance for driving the speciation process remains elusive. A major problem is that in retrospect, we cannot dist...

Age at maturity is an important life‐history trait, often showing sex‐specific variation, contributing to life‐history diversity in many species. Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) are an excellent model system to investigate genetic and environmental factors affecting sex‐specific maturation, yet few laboratory studies have focused on females as they...

Age at maturity is an important factor contributing to life-history diversity. In Atlantic salmon, this trait often shows sex-specific variation, but female salmon are seldom included in experimental studies of maturation. As a result, there is a gap in our knowledge of how different genetic and environmental factors affect female maturation. Using...

Linking reproductive fitness with adaptive traits at the genomic level can shed light on the mechanisms that produce and maintain sex‐specific selection. Here, we construct a multigenerational pedigree to investigate sex‐specific selection on a maturation gene, vgll3 , in a wild Atlantic salmon population. The vgll3 locus is responsible for ~40% of...

Linking reproductive fitness with adaptive traits at the genomic level can shed light on the mechanisms that produce and maintain sex-specific selection. Here, we construct a multigenerational pedigree to investigate sex-specific selection on a maturation gene, vgll3, in a wild Atlantic salmon population. The vgll3 locus is responsible for ~40% of...

The environment experienced by a female influences reproductive traits in many species of fish. Environmental factors such as temperature and diet are not only important mediators of female maturation and reproduction but also of egg traits and offspring fitness through maternal provisioning. In this study, we use 3‐year‐old tank‐reared Atlantic sa...

The environment experienced by a female influences reproductive traits in many species of fish. Environmental factors such as temperature and diet are not only important mediators of female maturation and reproduction but also of egg traits and offspring fitness through maternal provisioning. In this study, we use three-year-old, tank-reared, Atlan...

Salmonids are a socioeconomically and ecologically important group of fish that are often managed by stocking. Little is known about potential sex-specific effects of stocking, but recent studies found that the sexes differ in their stress tolerances already at late embryonic stage, i.e., before hatchery-born larvae are released into the wild and l...

Over the past decades, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar, Salmonidae) has emerged as a model system for sexual maturation research, owing to the high diversity of life history strategies, knowledge of trait genetic architecture, and their high economic value. The aim of this synthesis is to summarize the current state of knowledge concerning maturation...

In species with complex life cycles, life history theory predicts that fitness is affected by conditions encountered in previous life history stages. Here, we use a four-year pedigree to investigate if time spent in two distinct life history stages has sex-specific reproductive fitness consequences in anadromous Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). We de...

Lake-dwelling fish that form species pairs/flocks characterized by body size divergence are important model systems for speciation research. While several sources of divergent selection have been identified in these systems, their importance for driving the speciation process remains elusive. A major problem is that in retrospect, we cannot disting...

Sexual ornaments found only in females are a rare occurrence in nature. One expla- nation for this is that female ornaments are costly to produce and maintain and, therefore, females must trade-off resources related to reproduction to promote or- nament expression. Here, we investigate whether a trade-off exists between female ornamentation and f...

A long held, but poorly tested, assumption that disperers are at a reproductive disadvantage compared to local individuals We capitalize on naturally migrating Atlantic salmon on a spawning ground sampling over 4 consecutive cohort-years to test if reproductive success of locals is higher than in dispersers (strays) Local individuals had 3-9x hig...

A long-held, but poorly tested, assumption in natural populations is that individuals that disperse into new areas for reproduction are at a disadvantage compared to individuals that reproduce in their natal habitat, underpinning the eco-evolutionary processes of local adaptation and ecological speciation. Here, we capitalize on fine-scale populati...

Sexual ornaments found only in females are a rare occurrence in nature. One explanation for this is that female ornaments are costly to produce and maintain and, therefore, females must trade-off resources related to reproduction to promote ornament expression. Here, we investigate whether a trade-off exists between female ornamentation and fecundi...

The snake pipefish, Entelurus aequoreus, is a widespread marine species occurring in pelagic and coastal environments in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Recently, the snake pipefish underwent a short-lived, yet substantial, increase in abundance and range expansion into arctic waters. However, little is known about the species' population structur...

The snake pipefish, Entelurus aequoreus, is a widespread marine species occurring in pelagic and coastal environments in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Recently, the snake pipefish underwent a short-lived, yet substantial, increase in abundance and range expansion into arctic waters. However, little is known about the species' population structur...

Fish populations can be threatened by distorted sex ratios that arise during sex differentiation. Here we describe sex differentiation in a wild grayling ( Thymallus thymallus ) population that suffers from distorted sex ratios. We verified that sex determination is linked to the sex determining locus ( sdY ) of salmonids. This allowed us to stu...

Despite essential progress towards understanding the evolution of cooperative behaviour, we still lack detailed knowledge about its underlying molecular mechanisms, genetic basis, evolutionary dynamics and ontogeny. An international workshop 'Genetics and Development of Cooperation', organized by the University of Bern (Switzerland), aimed at discu...

Fish can be threatened by distorted sex ratios that arise during sex differentiation. It is therefore important to understand sex determination and differentiation, especially in river-dwelling fish that are often exposed to environmental factors that may interfere with sex differentiation. However, sex differentiation is not sufficiently understoo...

(Accepted manuscript online 21 Sept 16): Genetic parentage analyses reveal considerable diversity in alternative reproductive behaviors (e.g. sneaking) in many taxa. However, little is known about whether these behaviors vary seasonally and between populations. Here, we investigate seasonal variation in male reproductive behaviors in a population o...

17α-ethinyl estradiol (EE2) is an anthropogenic pollutant commonly found in aquatic ecosystems. We investigated how prolonged exposure to EE2 affects the secondary sexual ornamentation and nest building quality of male three-spined sticklebacks. We also investigated whether genes related to normal hormonal functioning and nest building behavior a...

In species that provide parental care, individuals should invest adaptively in their offspring in relation to the pre- and post-zygotic care provided by their partners. In the broad-nosed pipefish, Syngnathus typhle L., females transfer large, nutrient-rich eggs into the male brood pouch during mating. The male broods and nourishes the embryos for...

A 14 day experiment on effects of visible implant elastomer (VIE) tagging and spine-clipping of three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus showed significant increases in immune response, particularly in the granulocyte:lymphocyte ratio, in both treatments and the sham control. A minimum two-week recovery after handling, anaesthesia, tagging a...

The strength of sexual selection may vary between species, among populations, and within populations over time. While there is growing evidence that sexual selection may vary between years, less is known about variation in sexual selection within a season. Here, we investigate within-season variation in sexual selection in male two-spotted gobies (...

Size-assortative mating is a nonrandom association of body size between members of mating pairs and is expected to be common in species with mutual preferences for body size. In this study, we investigated whether there is direct evidence for size-assortative mating in two species of pipefishes, Syngnathus floridae and S. typhle, that share the cha...

The process of sexual selection underlies the way that individuals choose mates and produce offspring in nature (Darwin, 1871). The opportunities and choices that an individual may make are governed by both physiological and phylogenetic constraints, the types of social interactions and potential mate encounters an individual experiences, the metho...

Understanding how demographic processes influence mating systems is important to decode ecological influences on sexual selection in nature. We manipulated sex ratio and density in experimental populations of the sex-role reversed pipefish Syngnathus typhle. We quantified sexual selection using the Bateman gradient (β ss '), the opportunity for sel...

One of the most important decisions that a sexually reproducing organism must make in its lifetime is with whom shall it mate? From an evolutionary perspective, the importance of this decision is paramount: make the right choice and your offspring will continue your ge- netic legacy; make the wrong choice and your lineage will be at a disadvan...

The operational sex ratio (OSR) and density are considered important factors affecting the strength of sexual selection. Although there is increasing evidence that OSR and density affect the potential for sexual selection, few studies have addressed whether this is realized in phenotypic selection and how the two factors interact. We manipulated OS...

The operational sex ratio (ratio of sexually receptive males to females) has been extensively studied in behavioral ecology, whereas other demographic factors such as the effect of density on mating behavior have received less empirical attention. We manipulated mating competition by establishing breeding populations of the sex-role reversed broad-...

The genetic mating system is a key component of the sexual selection process, yet methods for the quantification of mating systems remain controversial. One approach involves metrics derived from Bateman's principles, which are based on variances in mating and reproductive success and the relationship between them. However, these measures are extre...

Background: Some populations of stickleback have a reduced number and/or relative size of spines. Hypothesis: Macroinvertebrate predators such as dragonfly larvae cause selective pressure against spines by capturing more stickleback with pelvic spines than stickleback that are spineless. Organisms: Ninespine stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) and dr...

Background/Question/Methods An important objective of ecology is to understand the processes that govern phenotypic variation in natural populations. We assessed patterns of morphological and genetic divergence among coastal and inland lake populations of nine-spined stickleback in northern Sweden. Coastal populations are either from the Baltic c...

Abstract Background An important objective of evolutionary biology is to understand the processes that govern phenotypic variation in natural populations. We assessed patterns of morphological and genetic divergence among coastal and inland lake populations of nine-spined stickleback in northern Sweden. Coastal populations are either from the Balti...

The occurrence of male pregnancy in the family Syngnathidae (seahorses, pipefishes, and sea dragons) provides an exceptionally fertile system in which to investigate issues related to the evolution of parental care. Here, we take advantage of this unique reproductive system to study the influence of maternal body size on embryo survivorship in the...

In two experiments, radioactively labelled nutrients (either (3)H-labelled amino-acid mixture or (14)C-labelled glucose) were tube-fed to brooding male Syngnathus typhle. Both nutrients were taken up by the males and radioactivity generally increased in the brood pouch tissue with time. Furthermore, a low but significant increase of (3)H-labelled a...

The advent of DNA fingerprinting and microsatellite techniques has revolutionized the way in which we investigate genetic pedigrees in the wild (Pemberton 2008). With large and often incomplete data sets consisting of hundreds to thousands of individuals over multiple generations becoming commonplace, new methods in parentage analysis are being dev...

When parental care is costly, parents should avoid caring for unrelated young. Therefore, it is an advantage to discriminate between related and unrelated offspring so that parents can make informed decisions about parental care. In the present study, we test the hypothesis that male sand gobies (Pomatoschistus minutus) recognize and differentially...

Aim To elucidate the historical phylogeography of the dusky pipefish ( Syngnathus floridae ) in the North American Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico ocean basins. Location Southern Atlantic Ocean and northern Gulf of Mexico within the continental United States. Methods A 394‐bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and a 235‐bp fragment of the...

The differential allocation hypothesis assumes that animals should weigh costs and benefits of investing into reproduction with a current mate against the expected quality of future mates, and predicts that they should invest more into reproduction when pairing with a high-quality mate. In the broad-nosed pipefish (Syngnathus typhle), males care fo...

It is well known that many animals with placenta-like structures provide their embryos with nutrients and oxygen. However, we demonstrate here that nutrients can pass the other way, from embryos to the parent. The study was done on a pipefish, Syngnathus typhle, in which males brood fertilized eggs in a brood pouch for several weeks. Earlier resear...

The last several decades of research in behavioral ecology have resulted in a deeper appreciation of post-mating processes and sexual conflict in sexual selection. One of the most controversial aspects of sexual selection is cryptic mate choice. Here, we take advantage of male pregnancy in a sex-role-reversed pipefish (Syngnathus typhle) to quantif...

Genetic mating systems are expected to vary among and within populations in response to environmental and demographic factors. Despite the fact that mating system variation theoretically can have profound effects on important evolutionary processes such as sexual selection, extensive intraspecific surveys of geographical variation in mating systems...

A major question in behavioural ecology concerns the relationship between genetic mating systems and the strength of sexual selection. In this study, we investigated the genetic mating system of the two-spotted goby (Gobiusculus flavescens), a useful fish model for the study of sexual selection whose genetic mating system remains uncharacterized. W...

Understanding the processes that govern mating behaviors is a fundamental goal of evolutionary biology and behavioral ecology. Population-level patterns of mate acquisition and offspring production, otherwise known as the genetic mating system, play a central role in the sexual selection on morphological and behavioral traits and may facilitate spe...

Differences among populations in the intensity of sexual selection resulting from distinct genetic mating systems can lead to divergent morphological evolution and speciation. However, little is known about how genetic mating systems vary between populations and what factors may contribute to this variation. In this study, we compare the genetic ma...

The evolution of complex traits, which are specified by the interplay of multiple genetic loci and environmental effects, is a topic of central importance in evolutionary biology. Here, we show that body and tail vertebral numbers in fishes of the pipefish and seahorse family (Syngnathidae) can serve as a model for studies of quantitative trait evo...

One of the consequences of ultraviolet radiation exposure in anthozoans possessing photosynthetic endosymbionts (i.e., zooxanthellae) is production of reactive oxygen species that can damage cellular components, especially lipids and photosynthetic membranes. It is well known that carotenoids are potent antioxidants that can mitigate oxygen radical...

Ontogenetic feeding shifts, diel feeding and differential feeding between sexes in the molly miller, Scartella cristata (Family Blenniidae), were characterized by dietary analysis. Gut-content analysis was performed on juvenile and adult S. cristata (n = 62) based on 24-h collections from two rock jetties in northwestern Florida. Direct observation...

Vita. "A thesis presented to the College of Graduate Studies ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science in the Department of Biology." Thesis (M.S.)--Georgia Southern University, 2001. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [51]-58) and appendices.