Mechanisms Driving the Extirpation of a Desert Fish Species
EPA Grant Number: U915345Title: Mechanisms Driving the Extirpation of a Desert Fish Species
Investigators: Rosenfield, Jonathan Alan
Institution: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
EPA Project Officer: McClure, Karen
Project Period: September 1, 1998 through September 1, 2001
Project Amount: $71,038
RFA: STAR Graduate Fellowships (1998)
Research Category: Fellowship - Zoology , Academic Fellowships , Biology/Life Sciences
Description:
Objective:The objective of this research project is to identify the forces contributing to extinction via hybridization among animal species in nature.
Approach:I am using the explosive introgression between the Pecos pupfish and the sheepshead minnow (genus: Cyprinodon) as a model system for studying mechanisms of hybridization and introgression. Differences in sexual selection systems, indicators of ecological competitiveness, and life history attributes of the two parent species and their hybrids are being studied as potential factors that promote hybridization and introgression in these related fish species.
Supplemental Keywords:fellowship, extinction, hybridization, introgression, speciation, conservation biology, fish, sexual selection, natural selection, extirpation, Pecos pupfish, sheepshead minnow, Cyprinodon, ecological competitiveness. , Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Scientific Discipline, RFA, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Molecular Biology/Genetics, Biology, exploratory research environmental biology, Futures, wildlife, Zoology, Ecology, Ecological Indicators, Exp. Research/future, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Ecosystem Protection, Genetics, sheephead minnow, speciation, cyprinodon variegatus, rapid evolution, conservation, extinction risk, hybridization, extirpation-through-introgression, cyprinodon pecosensis, introgression