Data from: Rapid adaptive evolution of colour vision in the threespine stickleback radiation

We show that sensitivity across the visual spectrum is shifted repeatedly towards longer wavelengths in freshwater compared with the ancestral marine form. Laboratory rearing suggests this shift is largely genetically based. Using a new metric, we found that the magnitude of shift in spectral sensitivity in each population corresponds strongly to the transition in the availability of different wavelengths of light between the marine and lake environment.

We also found evidence of local adaptation by sympatric benthic and limnetic ecotypes to different light environments within lakes. Our findings indicate rapid parallel evolution of the visual system to altered light conditions. The changes have not, however, yielded a close matching of spectrum-wide sensitivity to wavelength availability, for reasons we discuss.

Usage notes read me file description This file outlines the contents of the data files and provides a key for column headings. file_metadata_read_me raw irradiance data Contains subfolders with raw individual irradiance measures Site.meta.data Contains meta data from sample sites Proportional.Opsin.Expression Opsin Expression data converted to cone proportions Raw.Opsin.Expression Contains raw opsin expression data Irridance Contains irradiance data used in the study Transmission Contains transmission data used in the study