Jennifer M. Gumm
Caitlin (rt.) and I try to
stay warm in Zurich in November. YouĠd think we wear funny hats all the time
but, sadly, we do not.
I am
currently a M.S. student in Biology at Texas State University- San Marcos
working with Dr.
Caitlin Gabor.
For my thesis, I am studying species and mate-quality recognition in Poecilia
latipinna. Male sailfin mollies (P. latipinna) mate with females of their own species as well as with
Amazon mollies. Amazons (P.
formosa) are unisexual gynogens: they require sperm from males to start the process but use none of the males DNA and essentially clone themselves. Males get no obvious benefits from mating with Amazons and their persistence in an evolutionary paradox. I have examined a conflict between size as a mate-quality cue and species recognition cues used by males as a possible way for Amazons to garner matings. In addition, I examined the specific visual cues male sailfin mollies may be using to tell the difference between female sailfin and Amazon mollies by making models that isolate certain cues.
I am now in the lab of Murray
Itzkowitz at Lehigh University for my doctoral work.
A Fish Eyes view of one of my experiments
Links
of Interest:
American
Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
Texas State University-San Marcos
Also,
Pitchfork (my favorite music site)
Rather Good (if we had Flash at school,
IĠd never get any work done. Check out the kittens)
Me in Zurich, Switzerland for the
Poeciliid conference. This is outside the church with the Chagall windows, but it was Sunday so this is all we saw of them!