Diversity of gill raker number and diets among stickleback populations in novel habitats created by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami

摘要

Background: Catastrophic disasters often create novel habitats and offer an opportunity to investigate how rapidly phenotypic diversification occurs in nature. On 11 March 2011, a large earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck the downtown area of Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. This catastrophic event created new spring water-fed ponds that sticklebacks (genus Gasterosteus) quickly colonized. In 2014, there were 48 newly formed stickleback habitats.