Combining Demographic and Life History Data to Test the Reproductive Value Hypothesis in Livebearing Fishes

Authors

Dr. Mark Belk, Brigham Young University

Keywords

life history, reproductive value, livebearing fishes

College

Life Sciences

Department

Biology

Abstract

The proposal was to conduct a large-scale mark-recapture project on a livebearing fish in Utah lake to evaluate size and sex-specific mortality rates of this population. The experiment was begun in mid- summer by marking over 1000 individual mosquitofish. All fish were returned to the lake alive after marking. In the original design we would recapture fish at two later intervals – late summer and early spring. At the late summer recapture time we recaptured individuals over a four day period with an intensive effort involving several undergraduates and graduate students. We recaptured only one marked individual out of the original 1000, so from an academic perspective the experiment failed.

Recommended Citation

Belk, Dr. Mark (2013) "Combining Demographic and Life History Data to Test the Reproductive Value Hypothesis in Livebearing Fishes," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 1805.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/1805