Guppy Simulation

1. If being flashy and colorful attracts predators, why do you think guppies are so colorful?
To attract mates.

2. After viewing the guppy gallery, pick the fish you find most interesting. What is the fish’s scientific name, origin and average size? Describe the coloration of the fish you chose.
Poecilia reticulata
It is male
The average is 1.4 inches
It has the colors of Hallows Eve (Jaloguin) along with white, yellow, and blue.

3. After viewing the predator gallery, pick the fish you find most interesting. What is the fish’s common name, scientific name, and origin?
Fat sleeper
Dormitator maculatus
Southern North America, Bahamas, and Latin America

4. View the guppy’s habitats, what habitat conditions would affect the predator populations? If it a deep section of a stream, then it can be full of predators. But if it’s a dam, then there will be little to no predators. Finally, in a small pool, there would be the smallest and least effect population of predators.

5. Who is John Endler? What did he study and where did he study it?
John Endler was a scientist that studied wild guppies. He studied them in different streams and different parts of the same stream.

6. For each of the three stream areas, describe the guppy coloration:

Pool 1: Brightly multi-colored fish with large scales.

Pool 2: Medium coloration on body and tail, with medium size spots.

Pool 3: Drab coloration with very small spots concentrated near the tail.

7. Develop your own hypothesis about guppy coloration. The hypothesis should answer the questions: Why do guppies in different areas of the stream have difference in coloration? (You can choose from the list on the simulation, or make up your own) If there are more predators, then the gene of bright coloration in guppies have less of a chance of being passed on to future generations.
Guppy Simulation

% of Brightest Guppies
(10 generations) % of Bright Guppies
(10 generations) % of Drab Guppies
(10 generations) % of Drabbest Guppies
(10 generations)
Trial 1
Guppy: Even Mix
Predators: 30 Rivulus %45 %29 %24 %3
Trial 2
Guppy: Even Mix
Predators: 30 Rivulus, 30 Acara %0 %87 %13 %0
Trial 3
Guppy: Even Mix
Predators: 30 Rivulus, 30 Acara, 30 Cichlid %0 %0 %8 %92
Trial 4
Guppy: Mostly Bright
Predators: 30 Rivulus %38 %52 %4 %6
Trial 5
Guppy: Mostly Drab
Predators: 30 Rivulus, 30 Acara, 30 Cichlid %0 %0 %0 %100


Summary
8. Describe how predators influence guppy coloration.
Since predators can see brightly colored guppies easier, they tend to eat more of them, leaving more dull colored guppies to pass on their genes.

9. Was your hypothesis correct, use your data to justify your answer.
Yes, because when we added more predators, more dull guppies survived to pass on their genes, but when there wasn’t as many predators then the brightly colored guppies were dominated.

10. What does it mean that “male guppies live in a crossfire between their enemies and their would be mates”?
This phrase means that males have to go out into the open to look for mate, but when they do that, they are easy pickings for predators, also known as enemies.

11. Why do you think guppies in different areas of the stream have different coloration?
Since some parts of streams have more predators than others, so in the places where there are not many predators, bright guppies will thrive. But if the location in the stream has more predators, the bright guppies will be eaten and the dull ones will thrive.

12. What would happen to mostly drab guppies that were placed in a stream with very few predators?
The drab guppies would not be as successful as the few bright ones, so, over time, the bright ones would become more common.

13. What would happen to brightly colored guppies that were placed in a stream with many predators?
The bright colored guppies would be eaten relatively quick, while the dull ones would eventually would become much more common.

Conservation For The People

This article from Scientific American states that current way of protecting biodiversity isn't working very well, which is just protecting biodiversity hot spots. However, since these "hot spots" don't always have a diverse animal populations, protecting them isn't working out so well. So we should try a different approach. This other approach is taking the environments that have a large impact on the human species. By doing this, we won't hurt people by moving them out of their homes or anything like that. Also, we may only need to save the species that help people. Some of these environments are forests, coral reefs, wetlands, and mangroves. By protecting all of these certain ecosystems, we can preserve biodiversity and have it also benefit us humans. And not only will we be protecting the cute and popular animals, but we will also protect the rare species. In all, this article is pretty much supporting biodiversity as anthropocentric, with all the talk of the environment only being worth saving when it actually supports mankind.

Biodiversity

1. Preserving local biodiversity have global effects because much of our resources come from different parts of the world. If India where to be hit by a flood(because of logging, areas can be hit my monsoons much more frequently and more severely) then the world economy would be effected.
2. Like all organisms, people need the rest of the world, all the plants and animals that help us to survive. Take them away, and we slowly die out with them, much like a domino effect. When one falls down, more fall down with it, and that rule still applies to humans, even if we thin of us as superior to the rest of the world.
3. Preserving biodiversity if important because many of the poorest people in the world depend on on biodiversity for food, fodder, or even medicine! Take biodiversity away, and we have a huge crisis on our hands with people in countries like India going hungry. Also, medicine is found in many type of plants, take away those and we could be preventing the human race from finding vital medicine for our future.