Lake Victoria is a large lake in Africa. The lake is home to a group of related fishes called cichlids. Many of these fish groups are similar in appearance, but they differ in their feeding habits. You want to determine if the cichlid groups are different species or just members of one large population containing a lot of variation. Design a plan for this experiment.

In your response, be sure to include:

the variables you plan to use
a detailed description of the experiment
how data would be collected
how data would be analyzed

Question

Lake Victoria is a large lake in Africa. The lake is home to a group of related fishes called cichlids. Many of these fish groups are similar in appearance, but they differ in their feeding habits. You want to determine if the cichlid groups are different species or just members of one large population containing a lot of variation. Design a plan for this experiment.

In your response, be sure to include:

the variables you plan to use
a detailed description of the experiment
how data would be collected
how data would be analyzed

SmokeyBrown · Answer

How would we determine whether different animals are members of the same species? Consider that the main criteria for belonging to the same species is the ability to produce viable offspring.
With this in mind, how can we test member of the group of fish to see if they are of the same species?