Photo Credit: Eva Fischer
Guppies on the moveDoes movement within a stream have reproductive benefits for Trinidadian guppies?
Sarah Fitzpatrick
, (Michigan State University)
Isabela Lima Borges
, and (Santa Barbara Botanic Garden)
Melissa K. Kjelvik
(Michigan State University)
Are you a traveler or do you prefer to stay close to home? Just like humans, animals within a species can vary in how much they travel, but does movement provide benefits?
Animal parents often choose where to have their offspring in the place that will give their young the best chance at success. They look for places that have plentiful food, low risk of predation, and good climate. With these optimal conditions, why do animals sometimes move away from where they are born? In this case, you will explore whether there are reproductive benefits to guppies in Trinidad that move around within a stream, or if staying local may be better.
Learning objectives
- Describe the ecological importance of habitat movement for Trinidad guppies. Explain how dispersal within a stream may influence reproductive benefits and potential population demographics.
- Assess the benefits and downfalls of the scientific methods of the study.
- Analyze and interpret a dataset to examine whether guppies that moved further over time had more offspring. Determine whether there are differences based on biological sex.
- Construct an explanation that answers the proposed scientific question. Provide specific data that support the claim and sound reasoning that ties in ecological concepts.
- Identify a hypothesis for the observed patterns that includes an ecological mechanism.
- Propose potential future directions and scientific questions for the current study and identify potential data that could be collected to answer these new questions.