Guppy Paper

FEMALE MATE CHOICE IN POECILIA RETICULATA

Abstract:

In this experiment we examined female mate preference in the Trinidad guppy, Poecilia reticulata. Female guppies prefer to mate with brightly colored males in numerous species. From the jealousy experiment, the modeled female is jealous with the other female which is in the same section with 2 different males. The modeled female significantly preferred the males with 1 female than 3 males in other section.

Introduction:

Intrasexual selection is sexual selection by female choice, in which males compete

for the favors of females while intersexual selection is defined as mate choice based on behavioral and morphological traits displayed by the opposite sex. Mate choice experiments showed that females prefer colorful males as mates, but prefer bolder males irrespective of their coloration when given the opportunity to observe their behavior toward a potential fish predator (Godin et al., 1996). In addition, (Lafleur et al., 1996) females always choose mates independently from each other. In this jealousy experiment, a confined female was allowed to observe three males on her left side, and other two males and one female together on the right side. In significantly more trials, the confined female spent more time closer to two males that had been together with one female.

Materials & Methods:

This experiment was tested on three separate days, and one of the materials that needed to use for these tests is a big tank contains treated water and small soils. Two thin sheets of transparent plexi-glass dividers which used for dividing into three equal areas, and draw 2 straight lines to divide the equal spaces by using the color markers. The following materials are required for this lab such as a bubble tube, a plastic bottle, stop watcher, a small container to hold the Guppies. Before doing these tests, we have to choose 5 males and 2 females Guppies for the separated sex tanks provided by instructor.

Jealousy experiment was set up by dividing the big tank into 3 equal compartments, and placing 3 males Guppies in one end of the tank, 1 female Guppy in the middle section, and the combination of 2 males and 1 female Guppies in the other end of the tank. A female Guppy is in the middle compartment choose her mate by swim toward the side which has her mating choice. Observe and record the times in minutes and seconds, also compare the results when this female Guppy swim to either left or right side the most. Last step, we use Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test for the results of this experiment.

Result: