Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was having some crazy thoughts after a couple of wines the other day and I wondered.......

One area where people notice differences in new species are generally on isolated islands, Darwin noticed many new species as he hopped from island to island, variations of original species that had become new species in them selves. Now I was thinking about inbreeding and how this leads to some major deformities. I know we have a few SP that have deformities and I'd been led to believe that it's because of inbreeding with W.A. SP breeding stock, because we don;t have a lot of genetic diversity with very few fish being brought in from other areas of Australia.

So if breeding within a very narrow gene pool leads to some rather unusual major mutations, is this part of how new species are formed. Imagine half a dozen frogs make it to a particular island, when this very narrow gene pool breeds, there will be a much higher percentage of unusual mutations in the young. Now of course some of these will lead to failures, but then some mutations could provide advantages in these new environments and as such better chance of surviving and breeding, better chance of passing on those new traits to young. Then on and on, the new traits are passed down because of better survival/breeding rates, gene pool stabilises as animal numbers increase..

Does that make sense... Can having a very narrow gene pool, which causes genetic birth defects actually be natures way of better trying to adapt a species to new environments? Sort of like throwing a few curve balls out there, nature saying, "OK, we are in a tricky spot here, not a lot of diversity, something has gone wrong so throw out a few randoms to see if this increases the chance of survival of the species. " And as such, actually in the long term, creating new species..

So could inbreeding actually be a very important tool in the creation of new species more adapt to surviving new and challenging environments?

This might be a well know "Durr, of course", for anyone with studies in this area, or perhaps I have it all wrong, but for me it was a bit of an epiphany the other day, that it seems to make so much sense..

When a genetic gene pool in the wild becomes very narrow it's generally because something has gone seriously wrong. How do you deal with that? Adapt and change, throw out some random changes in new generations..

I think they are experimenting with this sort of inbreeding in humans in some of the southern states of the US

*mantis ducks and runs to the shed*

Ooooh harsh....... Surprised you didn't throw a mention of Tassie in there as well.

No, I left that up to you. I am to close to them

Mantis,
Every time I go to visit the family in Georgia , USA I am sure there is banjo music playing in the background.

Did they have a coonhound sitting on the couch

It's an interesting concept. I don't know if your theory is right but it's sounds like you could be onto something

It may depend on on the gene pool to start with. You can use a small amount of breeders to grow your own fish for years before you find a problem. But in humans the gene pool is not diverse enough to do that. Also new environments may force different traits to become dominant.

In livestock breeding there are 2 avenues - Inline or Outline - both have 4"s & against. Inline means u pick the best of the best from the one blood line & keep putting best over best. i saw results of a 200 yo closed deer herd in UK & it convinced me that u can waste a lot of money chasing "stud" animals. outline with best animals from new blood line is widely practiced in stud cattle & sheep. IMO with no science to back it, i recon with smaller creature such as a fish, environment would be more important than bloodline. best saying i've heard over last 60 years is "its no good worrying about bloodlines if theres not good food going down its throat!!!!" just food for thought....cheers ST

... Judging by my last purchase of trout from Golden Ponds (insert: mutant. Insert: deformed), I'd say inbreeding is rampant in them there hills!!!

The creation if a species resulting from the isolation of a group of animals from the original population is called wither sympatric or allopatrick speciation, I can't remember which. Examples can be found on either side of the peninsula thatthe panama canal crosses, fish and invertibrates were isolates by falling sea levels, leading too similar but different species

Dunno about animals but I have crossed a few tomatoes, both accidentally and my crosses
All the resulting F1 plants have been more prolific than ether of the parents
Crossed a Tommy Toe with a College Challenger years ago, and the resulting F1 plants grew massive amounts of fruit a bit bigger than Tommy Toes. The taste was a failure, but the parents dont taste real good either LOL
One success was a cross between Juanne Flammee and Azoychka ,hoping to get a bigger Juanne Flammee. It worked
Got a nice plant growing in the AP and will post some pics later of the fruit when I get a few
The accidental cross of Brandywine with X(dunno), is a winner with prolific fruit and great taste. Will grow it out and try to get a stable variety, but this will take some years

Be nice to see trout that can handle warmer water and Barra that don't mind the cold.

Still have a runt trout in the sump tank and it hit some food I threw in for the yabbies tonight. This system hit 27C the other day

With plants its easier to save seed etc. Its just a pitty we can't breed our own fish. That would allow us to pick the strongest fish that thrive in an AP environment.