TY  - JOUR
A1  - Plath, Martin
A1  - Seggel, Uta
A1  - Burmeister, Heike
A1  - Heubel, Katja U.
A1  - Schlupp, Ingo
T1  - Choosy males from the underground : male mating preferences in surface- and cave-dwelling Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana)
N2  - Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana) inhabit a variety of surface habitats, but they also occur in a sulfur cave in southern Mexico. We examined male mate choice relative to female body size in the cave population and in the most closely related surface-dwelling population from a nearby river. Males from both populations were either light- or dark-reared and could choose between two differently sized females either on the basis of visual cues in light or on the basis of solely nonvisual cues in darkness. Sexual preferences were estimated from the degree of association. Cave molly males always showed a preference for the larger female, both in light and in darkness. Among the surface males, only light-reared males showed a preference in the visual cues test, but not in darkness. In a control experiment, we demonstrated that male association preferences directly translate into actual mating preferences. Apparently, using visual cues for mate choice is the ancestral state in this system, and using nonvisual cues has evolved as a novel trait in the cave population. We discuss the evolution of nonvisual male mate choice in the context of changed environmental conditions, namely the absence of light, hypoxia, and toxic hydrogen sulfide in the cave
Y1  - 2006
UR  - http://www.springerlink.com/content/100479
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-005-0072-z
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Tobler, Michael
A1  - Schlupp, Ingo
A1  - Heubel, Katja U.
A1  - Riesch, Rudiger
A1  - Garcia de Leon, Francisco J.
A1  - Giere, Olav
A1  - Plath, Martin
T1  - Life on the edge: hydrogen sulfide and the fish communities of a Mexican cave and surrounding waters
JF  - Extremophiles : life under extreme conditions
N2  - Most eucaryotic organisms classified as living in an extreme habitat are invertebrates. Here we report of a fish living in a Mexican cave (Cueva del Azufre) that is rich in highly toxic H2S. We compared the water chemistry and fish communities of the cave and several nearby surface streams. Our study revealed high concentrations of H2S in the cave and its outflow (El Azufre). The concentrations of H2S reach more than 300 mu M inside the cave, which are acutely toxic for most fishes. In both sulfidic habitats, the diversity of fishes was heavily reduced, and Poecilia mexicana was the dominant species indicating that the presence of H2S has an all-or-none effect, permitting only few species to survive in sulfidic habitats. Compared to habitats without H2S, P. mexicana from the cave and the outflow have a significantly lower body condition. Although there are microhabitats with varying concentrations of H2S within the cave, we could not find a higher fish density in areas with lower concentrations of H2S. We discuss that P. mexicana is one of the few extremophile vertebrates. Our study supports the idea that extreme habitats lead to an impoverished species diversity.
KW  - extremophile teleosts
KW  - Poecilia mexicana
KW  - cave fish
KW  - hypoxia
KW  - chemoautotrophy
KW  - condition factor
Y1  - 2006
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-006-0531-2
SN  - 1431-0651
VL  - 10
SP  - 577
EP  - 585
PB  - Springer
CY  - Tokyo
ER  -