Behavioral
Isolation
Behavioral isolation in two species of Killifish
• Lucania goodei
• Primarily found in freshwater
sites
• Lucania parva
• Are euryhaline (can adopt to
a wide range of salinity)
METHODOLOGY
Experimental methods
Female species recognition
Male-to-male competition
• Egg production
• Latency to mate
• Conspecific and
heterospecific male
competition
Female species recognition experiment
1. Obtaining of specimens from rivers
a. L. goodei from Indian River Lagoon
b. L. parva from Wakulla River
2. Housing of fishes in their native salinity
3. Performing mating trials using both conspecific and heterospecific
crosses
a. L. goodei ♂ x L. goodei ♀
c. L. goodei ♂ x L. parva ♀
b. L. parva ♂ x L. parva ♀
d. L. parva ♂ x L. goodei ♀
Male competition and species recognition
experiment
1. Establishment of three male pair treatments
a. two L. goodei
b. two L. parva
c. 1 L. goodlei and 1 L. parva
2. Randomized presentation of females
RESULTS
Emma L. Berdan, Rebecca C. Fuller, A TEST FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS ON
BEHAVIORAL ISOLATION IN TWO SPECIES OF KILLIFISH, Evolution, Volume 66, Issue 10, 1
October 2012, Pages 3224–3237, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01646.x