BIO

Joelyz Wolcott is a second-year student majoring in behavioral neuroscience. As a UROP student, she assisted on a research project analyzing the behaviors that maintain variation in the color patterns of Trinidadian guppies. In addition to UROP, Joelyz is involved in Sustainable Campus, the Neuroscience Student Association and Connecting Girls to STEM. Joelyz plans to continue being involved in research on campus and hopes to pursue a graduate degree in neuroscience post-graduation.

Maintenance of Color Pattern Variation in the Trinidadian Guppy, Poecilia reticulata

Abstract

The color patterns of Trinidadian guppies can help us understand the mechanisms that maintain genetic variation in populations. Male guppies with rare color patterns have an advantage in mating success, and the goal of this study is to determine whether competition between males contributes to this. I am blind to the overall study’s hypothesis, and instead have focused on determining whether the color patterns of the guppies impact how competitive they are. We ran behavioral trials to determine which of the three Iso-Y lines was more likely to follow the same female as a rival male. Males from the same line had similar color patterns and males from different lines had different color patterns. We expect to find that male guppies from the IF10 line will be the least likely to follow the same female as a rival male. This would indicate that males with more orange pigmentation don't need to be as competitive compared to males with less orange pigmentation. The results of this study will help us determine if the amount of orange pigmentation on a guppy impacts their behavior.

Keywords: genetic variation, color patterns, fish, evolution