A survey of a natural population of Aquarius remigis, a stream dwelling water strider, living in East Turkey Creek, Arizona, USA, revealed that they were mostly found in either pairs consisting of one male and one female, or in small female biased groups. Chi-squared analysis confirmed that this finding was not due to random chance. The sex ratios were manipulated to further test this observation, that is, that the water striders would return to the most commonly observed sex ratio combinations even after being deliberately rearranged. Pairs of water striders or female biased sex ratios were observed in the experimental pools after a 24 hour period. Behavioural experiments conducted in the laboratory were performed to investigate the possible behavioural interactions that could influence the sex ratios observed in the field. Artificial pools with three water striders, in four sex ratio combinations, and four water striders, in five sex ratio combinations, were used. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.29413 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Bang, H. Helen (He Won Helen), 1974- |
| Contributors | Lewis, David (advisor), Jablonski, Piotr (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Natural Resource Sciences.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001956335, proquestno: MQ85765, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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