LIFE HISTORY OF GAMBUSIA VITTATA (PISCES: POECILIIDAE)

Meaghan L.

1
Weldele ,

J. Jaime

2
Ziga-Vega ,

1Department

of Biology and 3Monte L. Bean Life Science

Museum , Brigham Young University, Provo,
UT 84602, USA

and Jerald B.

1,3
Johnson

2Departamento

de Ecologa y Recursos Naturales, Facultad

de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico.
Ciudad Universitaria 04510, Distrito Federal, Mxico.

Introduction
Life histories are related directly to fitness, selection, adaptation and physiological constraints which are all crucial in understanding the evolution and life cycles of living things (Stearns,
1992). The abundance of poeciliid fish species makes it easy to conduct comparative studies and find links between life-history evolution and causes of natural selection (Johnson & Bagley,
2011). In order to gain a complete comprehension of the diversity of life cycles of viviparous fishes and of the evolutionary causes that have shaped these diversities, we must expand our
knowledge to multiple species within the same family (Johnson & Belk, 2001).
In this study, we describe the life history of Gambusia vittata, which is a poorly know poeciliid endemic to a few river drainages in eastern Mexico. We quantified five life-history traits for
each population and for each sampling month: (1) number of embryos per reproductive female (brood size), (2) individual embryo mass (dry mass), (3) size at maturity for both males and
females, (4) reproductive allotment (RA), and (5) the amount of maternal transfer of nutrients to developing embryos (i.e., degree of matrotrophy).

References
Miller, R. R., Minckley, W. L., Norris, S. M. 2005. Freshwater
fishes of Mexico. Chicago & London. The University of
Chicago, 490p.
Johnson, J. B. & Bagley, Justin C. 2011. Ecological drivers of
life-history divergence. Pp. 38-49. In: Evans, Jonathan P.,
Pilastro, Andrea, Schlupp, Ingo. Ecology and Evolution of
Poeciliid Fishes. Chicago
Johnson, J. B. & Belk, M. C. 2001. Predation environment
predicts divergent life-history phenotypes among
populations of the livebearing fish Brachyryaphis
rhabdophora. Oecologia, 126: 142-149.
Stearns, S. C. 1992. The evolution of life histories. New York.
Oxford University Press, 249p.

7.0

6.0
5.5

Non-reproductive
Reproductive

4.5
January
2012
April
2012
March
2013

3.5

50

19

2
Site

Non-reproductive
Reproductive

0.012

(c)

0.011
0.010
0.009
0.008
0.007
January
2012

0.006
0.005

April
2012

0.003

January 2012 April 2012 March 2013

Month
2
35

(c)

80%
70%
60%

Non-reproductive
Reproductive

30%
20%
10%

28

2
Site

0.0012
0.0010
0.0008

28

Site

January
2012
April
2012
March
2013

(d)

26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10

March
2013

2
Site

January
2012
April
2012
March
2013

(e)

16

24
22
20
18
16
14
12
1

2
Site

April 2012

January
2012
April
2012
March
2013

(f)

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

2
Site

January
2012
April
2012
March
2013

Site

Brood
Size

Individual
Embryo
Mass (g)

RA

MI

5.62 (0.25) 0.0013 (0.0001) 0.007(0.0005)

21

20

1.63 (1.05 -2.47)

4.88 (0.32) 0.0017 (0.0001) 0.008(0.0006)

17

15.7

1.17(0.80 - 1.61)

5.19 (0.33) 0.0018 (0.0001) 0.0099(.0006)

21

21

1.06(0.77 - 1.18)

Table 1. Average values per population of life-history traits of Gambusia vittata.

Numbers for brood size, embryo mass and reproductive allotment are adjusted least
square means from linear models. Standard errors are shown within parentheses.
For matrotrophy indexes (MI), 95% bootstrap confidence intervals are shown.

15

Site 1
Site 2

10

Site 3
5
0
0.05

0.1

0.15

0.003

(b)

0.0025
0.002

Site 1

0.0015

Site 2

0.001

Site 3

0.0005
0
0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

0.14

0.16

Female Mass (g)

Interesting Discussion Points &

Future Work

20

Figure 2. Effect of month and population on (a) total number of embryos (brood size),
(b) individual weight of embryos, (c) reproductive allotment (RA), (d) female and (e)
male size at maturity, and (f) matrotrophy index.

Female Male size

size at
at
maturity maturity

(a)

Female Mass (g)

Month

Figure 1. Proportion of reproductive and

non-reproductive females by month for
each site. Data for females equal to and
larger than minimum size at maturity are
shown for each month.

25

18

26

10

0%

Jan 2012

0.0014

30

90%

40%

0.0016

30

0.004

50%

0.0018

0.013

(b)

(b)

0.0020

Female Size at Maturity (mm SL)

24

3.0

0.0022

Matrotrophy Index (MI)

100%

5.0

4.0

January 2012
April 2012
Month
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

(a)

Reproductive Allotment (RA)

6.5

Individual Weight of Embryos

(a)

0.0024

Individual Embryo Weight (g)

60
Total Number of Embryos (Brood
Size)

18

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

Male Size at Maturity (mm SL)

Percent of females

Reproductive Allotment (RA)

Total Number of Embryos (Brood

Size)

Females are reproductive at least from January to April (Fig. 1a-c).

Gambusia vittata do not superfetate (carry mutliple broods simultaneously).
Gambusia vittata in some populations appear slightly matrotrophic (meaning they transfer
a small amount of nutrients post fertilization) (Fig. 2f).
The amount of matrotrophy does not vary across month or site (Fig. 2f).
The proportion of reproductive females, brood size, and the reproductive allotment all
increase from January to April suggesting that reproduction increases just before the rainy
season (Fig. 1a-c & Fig. 2a).
Life history variation is greater between the two sites from the same river drainage than
from a third site found in a different river drainage (Table 1).

Percent of females

Individuals of G. vittata were

collected from three different sites in the
mid-eastern region of Mexico. We
collected G. vittata individuals from three
different sites across 3 different months
(January 2012, April 2012, March 2013).
We found brood size by counting the
number of embryos per dissected female.
We calculated Individual embryo mass as
the average dry weight of embryos. To
find size at maturity, we separated
individuals into 2 mm size classes. We
quantified size at maturity as the size
class in which 50% of indivuduals were
mature . Females were considered
mature if they contained embryos or
vitellogenic follicles (Reznick & Endler,
1982; Johnson & Belk, 2001), and males
when they had a mature gonopodium.
We calculated the reproductive allotment
(RA) of each female as the total dry
weight of the brood. We calculated a
matrotrophy index by dividing the
estimated dry mass of the embryos near
time of birth (stage 11 according to
Haynes, 1995) by the estimated dry mass
of the embryos at the time of fertilization
(stage 3). We estimated these dry masses
using a regression between stage of
development as the independent variable
and embryo mass (log-transformed) as
the dependent variable for each site and
for each month. We used a general linear
models procedure to examine variation
among both sites and months.

Percentage of females

Materials and Methods

Results

The increase in reproductive effort

could be due to seasonal cues.
The differences in life histories
between the two sites from the same
drainage system could be due to a
variety of environmental factors
(Johnson and Bagley, 2011).
It was previously thought that no
Gambusia species exhibited
matrotrophy.

0.05
0.045
0.04
0.035
0.03
0.025
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0

(c)

Site 1
Site 2
Site 3

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

0.14

0.16

Female Mass (g)

Figure 3. Effect of female mass on (a) total number of

embryos (brood size), (b) individual embryo weight,
and (c) reproductive allotment (RA).

Acknowledgements
We thank several students and faculty at Facultad de
Ciencias, UNAM for field work and laboratory assistance.
Fieldwork was conducted under permit no.
DGOPA.07010.210612.1749 issued by Comisin Nacional de
Acuacultura y Pesca, Secretara de Agricultura, Ganadera,
Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentacin Mxico. Funding for
this study came from Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y
Tecnologa and Secretara de Educacin Pblica Mxico
through the project no. 129675 (SEP-CONACyT Ciencia Bsica
2009). MLW thanks Brigham Young University for funding her
trip and stay in Mexico City and for taking care of the logistics
that enabled her to conduct research on the UNAM campus
and work with Dr. J. Jaime Ziga-Vega.