Market leaders in temperature controlled
microscopy, Linkam Scientific Instruments report on the use of their TH60-6
warm stage to study bird hybridization at the Department of Ecology and
Genetics, Uppsala, Sweden.
At the Evolutionary Biology Centre, Department of Ecology and Genetics/Animal
Ecology at Uppsala University, PhD student, Murielle Podevin, is studying two
species of birds; the collared and the pied flycatcher. These species started
to diverge approximately 2 million years ago and have separate distributions in
Europe but breed in common areas on two islands in the Baltic Sea. The birds
sometimes hybridize, with negative consequences on their fitness since hybrid
females are sterile and the males have a highly reduced reproductive success.
Little is known about gametic isolation as a reproductive barrier since it is
difficult to study, particularly for organisms with internal fertilization. The
aim of this research is to learn more about how quickly gametes diverge between
species and what kind of mechanisms take place after mating- but before
fertilization- in order to reduce the costs of hetero-specific mating.
Since hybridization has harmful consequences for individuals of both species,
it is expected that some mechanisms evolve to allow them to better recognize
the member of their own species and stop producing poor quality offspring. The
scientists intend to investigate if the gametes (sperm and eggs) have diverged
in the two species, making them less compatible and reducing the fertilization
success of hetero-specific matings compared to matings between individuals of
the same species. Such barriers to fertilization could be the last step to
terminate the speciation process and avoid the negative consequences of
hybridization. The causes of the decreased fertility of male hybrids in
particular will be investigated.
Murielle Podevin is analyzing and comparing the semen of both species as well
as hybrid males. She is interested in various characteristics of the
ejaculates, such as comparing the ability of sperm to swim in different fluids.
Murielle is video recording the movement of live sperm under the microscope
moments after ejaculation, using a Linkam warm stage to keep the samples at
40°C. Sperm that are at temperatures lower than 40°C will swim slower and stop
activity relatively quickly. She commented "The warm stage I am using is
essential for my work, since I need my samples to be kept at 40 degrees exactly
so that there is no variation between samples. I found the warm stage easy and
straightforward to use. The temperature is easy to set and remains
stable."
Both long term data and data from a few subsequent field seasons on that
population will be used. By comparing the characteristics of the sperm of these
two closely related species, Murielle Podevin is trying to understand the
consequences of the interactions between and within species at the gametic
level. The research is on-going.
Visit Linkam at
http://www.linkam.co.uk/
and learn about the broad range of applications in the field of temperature
controlled microscopy.
About Linkam Scientific Instruments
Linkam develops and
manufactures a broad range of heating and freezing stages for both OEM and end
users to visualize and explore materials properties. Used in conjunction with
light microscopes and other forms of spectroscopy, Linkam stages are found in thousands
of laboratories worldwide with the most successful microscope heating stage,
the THMS600, selling over 4,000 units alone. Linkam is the market leader in
temperature controlled microscopy.
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