Question

Predation is considered to be one of the foremost driving forces in evolution. The guppy Poecile

reticulate displays different life history traits when exposed to various predation pressures in

their natural populations, particularly in terms of reproductive behaviors and success. How

would you test if this species of guppy was displaying evolution or phenotypic plasticity?

Answer 1

Evolution is the process by which all the different living organisms have developed from their ancestors during the history. Phenotypic plasticity is a kind of change which takes place within an organism in its behavior or morphology and even physiology. But this happens only in response to the unique environment.

Two types of experimental populations have been designed in guppies. They are the rivulus communities and the other is the Crenicichla communities. When both the species demography and origin was considered that is the predator community , the focal guppies were known to be the off springs of one of the two communities. It is observed that guppies have already responded to the demography and origin. This tells that the phenotypic plasticity with respect to the environment has contributed in the variation in life history traits .