EAPSI: The Role of Behaviour and Predation in Maintaining Color Variation in an Introduced Population of Midas Cichlid in Australia

动物在外表或行为上可能会有很大的不同，即使是在同一物种的个体之间也是如此。这些差异被称为多态。颜色多态，即同一物种的动物有两种或两种以上不同的颜色，可能会对动物的生活史产生重要影响。对于科学家来说，这些差异是如何在种群中保持的在很大程度上仍然是一个谜。这是因为我们预计自然选择将有利于具有最适合当前环境条件的特征的个体，并传递该特征的基因。这将导致仅保持一种颜色变形。然而，如果不同的颜色变形擅长不同的任务，则可以在一个群体中保持多个颜色变形。与澳大利亚莫纳什大学的Bob Wong教授合作，PI将对新热带鱼类Midas cichlid进行行为观察，以了解捕食者-猎物动态如何允许维持多种颜色的变形。MIDAS Cichlids有黑色和金色两种变种。在它们原产于中美洲的范围内，它们主要是黑人。它们被介绍到澳大利亚的一个池塘，在那里它们已经在没有捕食者的情况下生活了几代人。澳大利亚的人口以黄金为主。梭鱼是黄鱼S的近亲，是其原生活动范围内的主要捕食者，最近由一个体育钓鱼组织介绍到澳大利亚的池塘中。我的研究将有助于确定颜色变化之间是否存在行为差异，以应对捕食者的暴露，这将有助于解释未来引入种群的人口统计学变化。这将让科学家们清楚地了解行为如何有助于维持多种颜色变形。该奖项由东亚和太平洋夏季学院项目资助一名美国研究生的暑期研究，由NSF和澳大利亚科学院联合资助。

Animals can differ dramatically in terms of their appearance or behavior, even among individuals of the same species. These differences are known as polymorphisms. Color polymorphisms, in which animals of the same species come in two or more distinct colors, can have important consequences for the life history of the animal. How these differences are maintained in a population remains largely a mystery to scientists. This is because we expect natural selection will favor individuals with the trait that is best suited for current environmental conditions and pass on genes for that trait. This should lead to the maintenance of only one color morph. However, if different color morphs excel at different tasks, multiple color morphs may be maintained in a population. In partnership with Professor Bob Wong at Monash University in Australia, the PI will conduct behavioural observations on Midas cichlid, a neotropical fish, in order to understand how predator-prey dynamics may allow for the maintenance of multiple color morphs. Midas cichlids come in both black and gold color morphs. In their native range in Central America they are predominantly black. They have been introduced to a pond in Australia where they have lived for several generations in the absence of predators. The population in Australia is predominantly gold. Barramundi, a close relative of the cichlid?s major predator in its native range, have recently been introduced to the Australian ponds by a sport fishing group. My research will help to determine whether there are behavioral differences between the color morphs in response to predator exposure that will help to explain future demographic changes in the introduced population. This will provide scientists with a clear understanding of how behaviour can help to maintain multiple color morphs. This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Australian Academy of Science.