Guppies Lab

Our question that we’re trying to answer is “Why will the Characteristics of a Bug Population Change in Different Ways in Response to Different Types of Predation”. Our objective was to see if there was any changes in different predation. If the insect's population change because of their characteristics, it means that our hypothesis is correct

Heterozygotes, which have the wild type phenotype, have normal sight which gives them the advantage of finding a mate and have a better success with attracting a mate with their courtship song (Kyriacou et al, 1978). The male heterozygous Drosophila had a better advantage at mating than the homozygotes, which were the ebony, and therefore we predict there will be more wild type by the end of the experiment.

In an article by Lee Alan Dugatkin and Jean Guy J. Godin they discuss how women unknowingly select their mates based on what they believe to be their choices and personal preferences, but really their choices stem from their subconscious and biological pre-programing. One of the examples that are given in the article is how vibrant colors, although not evolutionarily smart in terms of camouflage, are effective when it comes to finding a mate. Like for instance guppies and peacocks, the males possess these vibrant, bright colors to attract females and innately that is what the females look for. The more colorful the male, the more likely the female will choose him to breed with because to them the brighter the males are the stronger their genes are and the more possible it is that their offspring will survive and continue passing on their genes (Dugatkin et Godin,

The color variation of Venezuelan Guppies results from a difference between traits that are beneficial for survival and those that are beneficial for reproduction. While females are more attracted to bright males, predators limit the population of bright males from the top down. Therefore, the population of Venezuelan Guppies differ in color due to the presence, or lack of, predators.

Guppies are mostly known for being brilliantly coloured aquarium fish and are one of the world’s most widely distributed tropical fish due to its striking appearance. In the wild Poecilia reticulata (aka Guppies) are native to Northeastern Venezuela and are a highly adaptable fish that are able to survive a range of different ecological conditions, therefore, inhibit many environments. Males of this species have been known to display a variety of complex colours and mosaics of spots in order to attract mates, though not as dramatically patterned as its domesticated cousin. It is believed that these patterns and colours are determined by X and Y linked genes. However, the genes for colour are only expressed in adult males making them an example of sexual dimorphism which is a phenotypic differentiation between females and males which can be expressed by size, colour, ornamentation and behaviour. In this case, the two differ as wild female guppies are all grey in colour while males have splashed of colour and spot patterns.

Over the years, the male population of the blue moon butterfly has increased to nearly forty percent and this is all due to evolution. (Sherriff 2007).

Predatory selection demonstrated heavily on how the predators prefered brighter males and how females then resorted to whatever was left. From my data of mostly drab and mostly bright guppies with the simulation having 30 rivulus, 30 acara, and 30 cichlids, I could see a clear trend. For the mostly drab guppies, in a mere 7 generations or 141 weeks, showed that the predators had wiped out the brighter guppies having a split demographic of 0% of the brightest and bright guppies, 30% for drab guppies and 70% for the drabbest of guppies. In the mostly bright guppy test, it was more even but showed an obvious lean towards the drabber guppies having 20% and 17% for brightest and bright guppies, and 17% and 46% for the drab and drabbest guppies respectively. With all this data, the trend leaned towards having the bright guppies

Accepted animal mating theory suggests that females tend to select more “attractive” males as their breeding partners. In the case of Túngara frogs from Central America, male “attractiveness” is generally dictated by vocal ability and the size of their vocal sacs. However, a new study reveals that all hope is not lost for males with less desirable songs, thanks to the “decoy” effect.

The answer lies in the fact that guppies have to do more than just survive. They also have to reproduce -- and to do that, they have to attract mates. The "flashier" a male guppy is, the more likely a female guppy will choose him as a mate, giving him the opportunity to pass his genes along to the next generation. This is sexual selection at work, and it is the force that pushes guppy coloration toward conspicuousness just as hard as predation pushes coloration toward drabness.

Dreiss, et al (2012) suggests that female barn owls colour preferences within an ecosystem is associated to their colouration, however males do not exhibit habitat preferences in relation to the colour. Females have numerous pheomelanic phenotypes so their offspring must be produced within an ecosystem which aids her specific colour type (Dreiss, et al, 2012). Conclusive evidence supports the statement, The Barn Owl Trust (2016) stipulated the colouration enables the species to camouflage in their ecosystem for survival. However, Roulin et al (2000) claims the female’s colouration aids reproductive success because males have more of a sexual preference towards females which display more black spots. Both theories have sufficient evidences and

The guppy is a really colorful sea animal and often displays elaborate patterns on its tail fin. The female guppy and the male guppy can be identified quite easily as the female guppy has a small, patterned tail where the tail of the mail guppy is much longer and generally having fewer markings. The female guppy also tends to be larger in length and weight than the male guppy.

domesticus. For example, a greater level of hunger, restricted access to mates, and increased odors of females will increase and escalate the males’ aggression when fighting (Brown et al. 2007). A study done by Brown suggests that motivational symmetries change a males’ aggression. It was concluded that the solitary males initiated 80% of the aggressive behaviors during fights against males who have an unlimited access to females (Brown et al. 2007). The solitary males are more willing to increase aggressiveness in fights over mates because they will benefit more from winning. When fighting for females, solitary males have better mating success by a factor of 14:1. However, because females favor males with qualities related to good competitive skills, the males’ aggressive behavior increases to improve their reproductive

From our experiment, we are unable to reject that female crickets do not choose their mates based on their calling song. The t-test value did not give us a significant difference in the female’s view time of the male’s for us to say that our hypothesis is valid. Looking at the values from Figure 4 though we can see the total viewing time among the different males, which shows the male with the louder calling song generally had more time spent in front of his side.

Mate choice is a product of mate preferences form in the environment of evolutionary adaptiveness (EEA). Sexual selection suggests that females prefer males who they can gain benefits from such as gifts. This is shown in male birds who make nests for females in order to mate with them and also in insects who give nuptial gifts.

From the cross white eye males with wild females, our results were we got both phenotypes in the males as well as the females to be wild type.