Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- Review of Suckers in North America
From: Todd Crail (farmertodd at buckeye-express.com)
Date: Wed Oct 13 2004 - 04:24:40 CDT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Irate Mormon" <archimedes at bayspringstel.net>
> Yes, it does appear that invasive species don't suffer much from the lack
> of
> genetic diversity. I wonder if you were to compare the genetic diversity
> of
> early generations to later generations, whether the results would be close
> or
> identical, or whether you would actually find MORE diversity over a few
> generations. Moreover, if you found that such a population had sprouted
> new
> genetic material, whether those same genes would be found in other
> populations
> which are isolated from the first one.
This is a lot of what their Lab is going to look at. For example, round
gobies in Lake Erie are exhibiting behavioral (insanely inflated population
densities and microsized territories) and physical (only reaching 1/2 the
max size for the species) characteristics that are quite different than
their ancestral counterparts in Europe. As Peter said, "the phenotype is
derived from genetics + environment" and perhaps you can see how you have
this whole thing working here (that whole email is worth careful inspection
:). Their Lab is going to try and figure out what the genetics "looks like"
(as there should be at least _some_ difference) after a decade of the
environment selecting on the historical genetics. Certainly not long enough
to create a new "species", but long enough that there's a whole different
operation going on stateside.
While this may be light years away from where the thread began, it _is_
still on topic, and I'm not sure why you wanted to ring in its closure just
yet Martin :) There seems to be a good number of folks enjoying it, I know
I've enjoyed watching it unfold.
And as a general comment... Don't be intimidated or put off by the vocab.
My eyes glaze over too with the "uberzygotes et al", but it is a very
effective way to express a large idea in a single word. I encourage you to
look up words that don't have meaning as you read them (just google the
word, there's plenty of lesson plans online now)... There are a _lot_ of
labs out there at your local institutions that could REALLY use a natural
historian, and one that speaks their funny, inclusive language is
_especially_ helpful in seeing fish in more than a gel. And... you never
know where _you_ might end up :)
Todd
The Muddy Maumee Madness, Toledo, OH
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
http://www.farmertodd.com
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: Fri Dec 31 2004 - 11:27:45 CST