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Environmental factors influencing adult sex ratio in Poecilia reticulata : laboratory experiments
Author(s) -
McKellar A. E.,
Hendry A. P.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.2011.03065.x
Subject(s) - poecilia , biology , poeciliidae , predation , sex ratio , zoology , guppy , ecology , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , demography , population , sociology
The potential causes of adult sex ratio variation in guppies Poecilia reticulata were tested in laboratory experiments that evaluated the mortality rates of male and female P. reticulata exposed to potential predators (Hart's rivulus Rivulus hartii and freshwater prawns Macrobrachium crenulatum ) and to different resource levels. Poecilia reticulata mortality increased in the presence of R. hartii and M. crenulatum , and low resource levels had an effect on mortality only in the presence of M. crenulatum . Rivulus hartii preyed more often on male than on female P. reticulata , and this sex‐biased predation was not simply the result of males being smaller than females. In contrast, no sex‐biased mortality was attributable to M. crenulatum or low resource levels.