Larger Sperm Size May Contribute to Reproductive Isolation Between Etheostoma Species

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dc.contributor.authorArkorful, Mercy
dc.contributor.authorGazo, Katrina L.
dc.contributor.authorZweig, Aaron
dc.contributor.authorOtt, Laura E.
dc.contributor.authorMendelson, Tamra
dc.contributor.authordeCarvalho, Tagide
dc.date.accessioned2018-12-18T19:05:20Z
dc.date.available2018-12-18T19:05:20Z
dc.date.issued2018-12
dc.description.abstractEtheostoma is a genus of North American darter fish whose species have similar habitats and breeding seasons, yet hybridiza- tion is rare. Behavioral barriers have been demonstrated to play a key role in maintaining species boundaries. Further, conspecif- ic (same species) sperm precedence has also been observed when the gametes of two different species come into contact. In this study, we investigated if physical characteristics of sperm could be a mechanism for the lower fertilization success of heterospecific (different species) males when eggs are simultaneously exposed to conspecific and heterospecific sperm. We chose to examine the sperm of two closely related species, E. zonale and E. barrenense. Using toluidine blue and immunofluorescent labeling methods, we compared head diameter and tail length of sperm cells between the two species. We found that head diameter was significantly larger for E. barrenense sperm compared to E. zonale. This difference in cell morphology may point to a physical mechanism underlying conspecific sperm precedence in Etheostoma. Our results are the first to describe a morphological difference in sperm between species in this genus and provide initial evidence for the role of sperm morphology in prezygotic reproductive isolation.en_US
dc.description.urihttps://static1.squarespace.com/static/5443d7c7e4b06e8b47de9a55/t/5c081f6e4d7a9c68dc65bb7b/1544036209161/JYI_December2018_92-96_locked.pdfen_US
dc.format.extent5 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articlesen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/M22Z12T59
dc.identifier.citationMercy Arkorful, Katrina L. Gazo, Aaron Zweig, Laura E. Ott, Tamra Mendelson, Tagide deCarvalho, Larger Sperm Size May Contribute to Reproductive Isolation Between Etheostoma Species, Journal of Young Investigators, Vol. 35 Issue 6, 2018, Doi: 10.22186/jyi.35.6.92-96en_US
dc.identifier.uri10.22186/jyi.35.6.92-96
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/12303
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Science Education Research Unit (SERU)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Biological Sciences Department
dc.rightsThis item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)*
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/*
dc.subjectlarger sperm sizeen_US
dc.subjectreproductive isolationen_US
dc.subjectetheostoma speciesen_US
dc.subjecthybridization
dc.subjecte. zonale
dc.subjecte. barrenense
dc.titleLarger Sperm Size May Contribute to Reproductive Isolation Between Etheostoma Speciesen_US
dc.typeTexten_US

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