DOI: 10.5061/dryad.xwdbrv1r5
title: Change in threespine stickleback defensive traits, following brook trout introduction

description: In recent decades, numerous observations have been made of evolution
 induced by anthropogenic change in natural populations. Evolution in
 response to harvest, climate change, pollution, landscape change, and
 introduced invasive species is common. In the article "Evolution of
 threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) defensive traits following
 the stocking of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)" in the American
 Naturalist, we provide evidence for evolution in a new context by
 documenting a large increase in the frequency of defensive pelvic spines
 in two unusual threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) populations
 previously shown to mostly lack such structures. These populations, in
 Parc national du Lac-Témiscouata, Québec, Canada, were historically free
 of predatory fish and consisted nearly entirely of pelvic-spineless
 stickleback. This phenotypic change coincided with the stocking of the
 lakes with brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), a stickleback predator,
 and the introductions of other species used by anglers as live bait. The
 rapid evolutionary change towards a more defensive morph in the
 populations should prompt increased caution regarding the effects of
 management practices on native species. Here we provide data (in csv
 files) and code (in an R Markdown file) necessary to reproduce the
 analyses and figures in the article. These data include lateral plate and
 defensive spine phenotypes observed within the park's threespine
 stickleback populations, as well as historical stocking data that was
 obtained from the park and the provincial government.
description: # Change in threespine stickleback defensive traits, following brook trout
 introduction #### Description of the data and file structure Code file:
 Temiscouata-Nat_hist_note_tr.Rmd Data files:
 Temiscouata_nat-hist-note_8-25-25update.csv,
 Rond-Croche-aFoin_stocking_submission_tr.csv, Tem-water-condition.csv (not
 necessary for analyses, but shown in Table S1) **Details for
 Temiscouata_nat-hist-note_8-25-25update.csv**: Individual-level specimen
 data. Includes columns for: Lake, collection date (Date), collection year
 (Year), Individual ID number (ID), standard length in mm (SL), plate morph
 including asymmetric completes (PlateMorph), pelvic spine number
 (PSpineNum), L_Spine, R_Spine, and Avg_Spine (lengths in mm of left pelvic
 spine, right pelvic spine, and average of the two pelvic spines),
 Plate_count (count of plates from LaCasse & Aubin-Horth 2012), sex
 determined by dissection (Sex_gonads), museum accession number for data
 from Edge & Coad (1983), presence or absence of *Schistocephalus
 solidus* tapeworms (S_Solidus), the data source if collected prior to this
 study, and notes. See text for description of plate morphs. Data from Edge
 & Coad and LaCasse & Aubin-Horth were reported at levels of sample
 (L & A) or museum collection number (E & C), so individual lines
 DO NOT refer to specific identifiable individuals, and numerals after the
 decimal in specimen IDs are not used to identify individuals in original
 data. Missing data: NA, filling in empty cells in your CSV could interfere
 with the code. **Details for Tem-water-condition.csv**: Contains data on
 water quality, with each row representing sampling instance. Includes
 columns for Site (not specific location [this is indicated by lat/lon
 coords], but lake/stream/etc), Latitude and Longitude (both in decimal
 degrees), Date, pH, Temperature (C), Specific Coductivity (uS/cm). Empty
 cells reperesent unavailable data. **Details for
 Rond-Croche-aFoin_stocking_submission.csv**: File is in french, all data
 available from Parc national du Lac-Témiscouata. Contains stocking data,
 with each row representing a stocking event. Includes columns for:
 LakeName, Year, date, StockedSpecies (all of these are brook trout / *S.
 fontinalis*), number of fish stocked (Number_stocked), minimum length of
 stocked fish in cm (Length_min), maximum length of stocked fish in cm
 (Length_max), life stage of fish introduced (Stage), source of stocked
 fish (Lot), Latitude, Longitude **Details for code file
 Temiscouata-Nat_hist_note.Rmd**: This is an R markdown file the generates
 a document containing the statistical tests and plot used in the paper.
 Statistical analysis for this manuscript consists only of a few Wilcoxon
 rank-sum tests. Also generates summary tables of plate and spine morphs.
 #### File: Temiscouata-Nat_hist_note.Rmd **Description:** This is an R
 markdown file the generates a document containing the statistical tests
 and plots used in the paper. Statistical analysis for this manuscript
 consists only of a few Wilcoxon rank-sum tests and exact binomial tests.
 Also generates summary tables of plate and spine morphs. ## Code/software
 SOFTWARE VERSIONS R version 4.5.1 (2025-06-13) Platform:
 x86_64-apple-darwin20 (64-bit) Running under: macOS Monterey 12.7.4
 attached base packages: \[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils    
 datasets  methods   base      other attached packages: \[1] ggtext_0.1.2  
   patchwork_1.3.1  ggbeeswarm_0.7.2 ggplot2_3.5.2    \[5] dplyr_1.1.4     
   forcats_1.0.0 ## Access information Data was derived from the following
 sources: * Original Data * LaCasse & Aubin-Horth (2012) A test of the
 coupling of predator defense morphology and behavior variation in two
 threespine stickleback populations. Curr Zool
 58:53-65. [https://doi.org/10.1093/czoolo/58.1.53](https://doi.org/10.1093/czoolo/58.1.53) * Edge & Coad (1983). Reduction of the pelvic skeleton in the threespine stickleback, *Gasterosteus aculeatus*, in two lakes of Québec. Can Field Nat 97:334-336.