BIO

I am an undergraduate student majoring in Biological Science. I am driven by a passionate belief in justice, harmony, and knowledge. I plan on living these values by researching ways we can limit the damage caused by human activities on ecosystems and our environment overall.

Effect of Variable and Constant Food Availability on the Growth of Heterandria formosa

Abstract

In this study, the small livebearing fish Heterandria formosa was selected in order to test the effect of varying food availability and constant food availability on growth. The Heterandria formosa utilized in this experiment were hybrids from two distinct wild Florida panhandle populations. One typically experiences low food periods while the other does not. The experimental design consisted of 18 pairs of tanks, each of which began with 40 fish of the same length distribution(N=18). Half of the pairs were treated with constant food intake while the other half received varying food availability. The populations receiving constant food intake, were given the same amount (300mg) of food consistently throughout. The other group the populations receiving varying food availability, received the daily amounts (30mg, 500mg, and 520mg) for the same total average amount as the constant food intake after every two weeks. I hypothesize that the fish receiving food at a constant rate will both be longer in length and have a higher population number compared to the populations experiencing variable food availability. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the abundance of Heterandria formosa that were fed with constant food compared to those with variable food treatment. However, this experiment is still ongoing, therefore, differences may be observed in the future.

Keywords: Heterandria formosa, Food Availability