Meeting Abstract

40.2  Sunday, Jan. 5 08:15  Mate Choice in a Hybrid Zone: Chemical and Visual Preferences of Male Swordtails, SQUIRE, M S*; ROSENTHAL, G G; Texas A&M University; Texas A&M University squiremk@gmail.com

Species recognition via various cues, including chemical and visual cues, is extremely important when it comes to animals’ mating preferences and subsequently, mate choice and reproductive fitness. Multivariate cues may be especially important; an animal may rely on multiple cues presented simultaneously when choosing whom to mate with. Hybrid zones represent a breakdown in species recognition; heterospecifics may mate if certain cues are missing. In the Xiphophorus malinche/X. birchmanni hybrid zone of the Sierra Madre Oriental of central Mexico, anthropogenic disturbance has led to species recognition breakdown: chemical pollutants in the water have been found to block the olfactory receptors of these fish, leaving them to chose mates based mostly on visual cues. Past research in the lab has found that females of both species tend to favor the visual cues of male X. birchmanni. In addition, another study found that X. birchmanni males also tend to choose the chemical cues of X. malinche females over those of conspecifics. This complex array of preferences highlight the need to understand both male and female multivariate preferences in order to determine the fate of these species and the hybrid zones they form. In this study, we set out to determine both the chemical and visual preferences of X. malinche males, so that we may complete the preference picture. Using this information, we can make more informed hypotheses about the interactions within the hybrid zone and the future of these two species.