Sperm Selection After Mating :: Biology

A Bit of Background InformationWhat is pre- and post-copulatory knowledgeable alternative? From the word copulatory, sum to engage in informal intercourse, pre-copulatory sexual selection refers to the females choice in selecting a mate before sexual intercourse takes place. Post-copulatory sexual selection occurs within the females reproductive track, and it describes the biological selection (whether due to sperm or the females biology) that results in the fertilization her eggs.Why are guppies good subjects for research in this topic? The intimately significant reason for victimisation guppies in sexual selection research is because they casually participate in polyandry. This means that in nature a female guppy go out mate (willingly or unwillingly) with numerous males at a time, allowing for trys to be conducted to see which males sperm fertilizes the most eggs.Why use artificial insemination? Before the use of artificial insemination, the results of much(pr enominal) experiments were obscure and varied greatly. There was no way of controlling the males drop the ball sizes or thier specific sexual nexus with the female guppies. By using artificial insemination techniques, these two variables can be controlled equal quantities of sperm from from each adept male guppy can be isolated, and no sexual contact need ever take place. The increased control over these variables makes it possible to attain reliable results that are directly related to postcopulatory processes. Introduction intimate selection is a common facet of evolutionary biology that plays a key role in the mating choices of a variety of variant species. Competition between the males sperm as intumesce as the choice of mate by the female factor into a successful copulation.This experiment examines the precopulatory and postcopulatory behavior of Poecilia reticulata , the guppy. Artificial insemination was used to separate the factors of sexual selection befor e and after sexual intercourse. Attractive males in the guppy populationdeemed attractive based on the female guppys affinity for themwere those with high levels of carotenoid coloration (orange, yellow, and red). Relative statures were also compared. The purpose of this experiment is to demonstrate, through artificial insemination, the role of postcopulatory sexual selection in a population of guppies. If guppy females are partial to specific traits, the propagation of those traits will be evident. The Methods That Were Used Prior to insemination, the behavior of the guppies involved was analyzed and one adult, non-virgin female and two sexually immature fish were put in observation tanks.