Biologists show how the evolution of physical traits can influence behavior
For many male African cichlid fish, the best way to attract a mate is to build a really nice pit or sand castle on a lake bottom.
For many male African cichlid fish, the best way to attract a mate is to build a really nice pit or sand castle on a lake bottom.
Evolution
Mar 19, 2015
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New research shows that courtship rituals evolve very fast in cichlid fish in Lake Malawi. Whenever species evolve to feed at different depths, their courtship evolves as well. In the shallows where the light is good, males ...
Ecology
Mar 18, 2015
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Plants & Animals
Feb 16, 2015
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The manner and routes of dispersal vary with the species and the ecological conditions. Many fish form shoals to avoid predation. Shoaling with familiar conspecifics affords the fish an even greater advantage by increasing ...
Ecology
Jan 23, 2015
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Fish just want to have fun, according to a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, study that finds even fish "play."
Plants & Animals
Oct 20, 2014
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The evolution of new traits with novel functions has always posed a challenge to evolutionary biology. Studying the color markings of cichlid fish, Swiss scientists were now able to show what triggered these evolutionary ...
Evolution
Oct 9, 2014
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(Phys.org) —Roughly 40 million years ago, a handful of species of fish from the Nile River went into three lakes in Africa and experienced an unusual flurry of evolution. In one of these lakes as many as 500 new species ...
Biotechnology
Sep 23, 2014
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In an effort to understand the molecular basis of adaptation in vertebrates, researchers sequenced the genomes and transcriptomes of five species of African cichlid fishes. A research team led by scientists at the Broad Institute ...
Biotechnology
Sep 3, 2014
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Competition may play an important role during the evolution of new species, but empirical evidence for this is scarce, despite being implicit in Charles Darwin's work and support from theoretical studies.
Plants & Animals
Feb 28, 2014
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(Phys.org) —In Lake Malawi, East Africa, there are around 200 different species of cichlid fish that once or twice a year build large sand structures (known as bowers) on which the fish mate. Each different species constructs ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 6, 2013
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