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

动物在外表或行为方面可能会有很大的差异，即使是在同一物种的个体之间。这些差异被称为多态性。颜色多态性，即同一物种的动物有两种或两种以上不同的颜色，对动物的生活史有重要影响。这些差异是如何在种群中保持的，对科学家来说仍然是一个谜。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性状的个体，并将该性状的基因遗传给它们。这将导致仅维持一种颜色变形。然而，如果不同的颜色变体在不同的任务中表现出色，则可以在群体中维持多个颜色变体。PI将与澳大利亚莫纳什大学的Bob Wong教授合作，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变体。迈达斯慈鲷来在黑色和金色的颜色变形。在中美洲，它们的原产地主要是黑人。它们被引入澳大利亚的一个池塘，在没有捕食者的情况下生活了几代。澳大利亚的人口主要是黄金。澳洲肺鱼是慈鲷的近亲吗在其原生范围内的主要捕食者，最近被引入澳大利亚池塘的运动捕鱼集团。我的研究将有助于确定颜色变体之间是否存在行为差异，以应对捕食者暴露，这将有助于解释引入人口的未来人口变化。这将使科学家们清楚地了解行为如何帮助维持多种颜色变体。 东亚和太平洋夏季研究所计划下的这个奖项支持美国研究生的夏季研究，由NSF和澳大利亚科学院共同资助。

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.