1.While working on the coral project, you notice that each coral population tends to have its own population of parrotfish that eat the large algae that can grow on corals and smother them. One population of parrotfish seems to be doing a poor job of eating the algae and the parrotfish seem skinny from their inefficient feeding. This fish population also seems to be much smaller that the populations at the other two coral sites and the fish all look very similar to each other here. What might be causing this issue in the parrotfish and how would you test for it?
2.After spending so much time in sea water, you decide to return to land and spend some time studying parrot populations on a nearby island. Although they can fly, previous observations indicate that the parrots tend to stick to either the western or eastern sides of the islands - possibly because of the large volcano running through the middle of the island. How could you quantify whether these populations are likely exchanging individuals (i.e. gene flow)?
1. Answer: - There might be a few possibilities as to why the parrotfish in the particular coral site are suffering from the problem of inefficient feeding and weight loss.
i) The coral site might be polluted or contaminated with some other phytoplanktons or some kind of heavy metal contamination which is rendering the dissolved oxygen in the corals significantly lower. As a result of which BOD of the parrot fishes increase considerably which would directly affect their food habit and subsequent removal of algae. This could be tested in two ways:- First the BOD level of the coral site could be tested along with Dissolved oxygen level and water quality testing. Second, if there is any deformity in the parrotfishes due to oxygen deprivation, it would show in their blood and lungs. So, fish dissection, haematological study of the fishes and RBC count could be another way of showing oxygen deprivation.
ii) Another reason could be a genetic flaw within these parrot fishes of the particular coral site due to some sort of major change within the coral aquatic ecosystem that has forced the parrot fishes to adapt to a different feeding pattern leading to lesser efficient cleaning up of algae and reduction in body size. This could be tested against a panel of biomarkers using NGS and PCR for better results.
2. Ans: Since previous reports suggest that the parrots tend to stick to either the western or the eastern sides of the island due to the volcano running through the middle, there is a possiblity these parrots tend to mate which could result in genetic exchanges and gene flow. The simple way to test this is to get a few samples from both sides of habitats of the parrots and run PCR using similar primers and undergo gel electrophoresis to develop a similar regions panel between the two habitat species of parrots. Or, NGC can be undertaken and regions of uniqueness can be determined between the two species and compared with other species through phhylogenetic analysis that could potentially identify which regions are common to both the parrot populations living in there.
1.While working on the coral project, you notice that each coral population tends to have its...