Juvenile feeding ecology of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Juvenile feeding ecology of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) Alessandra Schnider, Franka Hemme, Etienne Burgade, Bjarni Kristófer Kristjánsson This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7624105/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 17 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Aquatic Ecology → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Threespine stickleback ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ) are known for their rapid adaptation to a wide range of environments. However, despite having served as a model species for ecology, evolution, and developmental biology, little is known about the ontological dietary changes of juvenile individuals in the wild. This has created a gap in our knowledge, given that the organismal phenotype is largely moulded during the juvenile phase, and natural selection during this life stage is often strong. Lake Mývatn, Iceland, offers a unique setting to explore these early-life organism-environment interactions due to its high habitat and resource heterogeneity, as well as divergent adult stickleback feeding morphologies across habitats. Here, we tested whether diet, based on gut content analysis, and trophic morphology have diverged between juveniles from different habitats and if diet composition covaries with morphology and body size. Overall, we saw clear differences in diet composition among distinct habitats within the lake, and morphological divergence in head morphology (e.g. gape size) among contrasting habitats. Juveniles tended to either have many small Cladocera or Chironomidae larvae in their diet; smaller individuals tended to have more Cladocera, and bigger individuals consumed more Chironomidae larvae. Such an ontogenetic diet shift is congruent with laboratory and other field studies on juvenile stickleback. However, this is one of the first studies, to investigate the association between juvenile diet and head morphology in wild freshwater stickleback. Thus, the study delivers unique insight into the development of trophic morphology, as well as diet-mediated diversification in threespine stickleback. Feeding ecology threespine stickleback niche shift head morphology juvenile diet Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 17 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Aquatic Ecology → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 15 Nov, 2025 Reviews received at journal 07 Nov, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 06 Nov, 2025 Reviews received at journal 02 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Oct, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 29 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 22 Sep, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 19 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 15 Sep, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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