ANCIENTS HOOKUPS BETWEEN DIFFERENT

SPECIES MAY EXPLAIN LAKE

VICTORIA’STUNNING
GROUP 1
1. ANASTASIA CHAIRANI
2. DEA AUDINA
3. LADINNA
4. LENI SAMARA
5. NURRASILFA
6. RINALDI NOVIANSYAH
• THERE ARE THOUSAND DIFFERENT TYPES OF CICHLIDS AND MOST OF THEM CAN BE FOUND IN
THE TROPICAL WATERS OF LAKE VICTORIA. IN THE SHALLOW WATERS OF LAKE VICTORIA
SWIM SOME 500 SPECIES OF CICHLID FISH
• STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THEY AROSE FROM A FEW ANCESTRAL SPECIES IN JUST 15,000 YEARS,
A RATE THAT HAS LEFT RESEARCHERS CONFUSED ABOUT HOW SO MUCH GENETIC VARIATION
COULD HAVE EVOLVED SO QUICKLY.
• RESEARCHERS HAVE EVIDENCE THAT ANCIENT DALLYING BETWEEN SPECIES FROM TWO
WATERSHEDS (FROM THE CONGO RIVER AND ONE FROM THE UPPER NILE RIVER WATERSHED)
LED TO VERY GENETICALLY DIVERSE HYBRIDS THAT COULD ADAPT IN MANY WAYS TO A NEW
LIFE IN THIS LAKE.
• RESEARCHERS SEQUENCED HUNDREDS OF CICHLID GENOMES, BUILT FAMILY TREES, AND
COMPARED THE GENOMES OF FISH.

• THEY DISCOVERED THAT HYBRIDIZATION CAN BOOST A SPECIES'S EVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL.

• NATURAL HYBRIDIZATION CAN BE DEFINED AS THE INTERBREEDING OF INDIVIDUALS FROM
TWO DISTINCT POPULATIONS OR GROUPS OF POPULATIONS
• A CLOSE LOOK AT ALL THEIR GENOMES SHOWS THAT THE TWO RIVER SPECIES HYBRIDIZED
WITH EACH OTHER LONG AGO. SEEHAUSEN INDICATED ABOUT 130,000 YEARS AGO, WATER
FROM TRIBUTARIES OF THE MALAGARASI RIVER, ITSELF A TRIBUTARY OF THE CONGO,
TEMPORARILY FLOWED INTO LAKE VICTORIA, BRINGING CONGO FISH INTO CONTACT WITH
UPPER NILE FISH.
• HYBRIDIZATION, ONCE CONSIDERED DETRIMENTAL (TENDING TO CAUSE HARM), TURNS OUT
TO BE IMPORTANT. A CONTROVERSIAL PROGRAM THAT MATED FLORIDA PANTHERS WITH
TEXAS COUGARS HELPED RESCUE THE FORMER FROM EXTINCTION.
• STUDIES SUGGEST THAT IN THE LONG RUN, HYBRIDIZATION IS IMPORTANT TO PRESERVING A
SPECIES'S EVOLUTIONARY POTENTIAL.