You are studying the reproductive success of a species of smallcoral reef fish, Lacustrina didactus, on Dariada Reef inAustralia. This species reproduces by spawning. That is, a male andfemale come together and release their gametes into the water. Overthree years you measure the lifetime reproductive success ofhundreds of L. didactus by recording the number of spawns(reproductive bouts) they make each month. You move your researchproject to an almost identical reef called Maugro Reef. You captureall of the L. didactus, measure their lengths, tag andrelease them. Use the data provided in the Excel worksheet?spawning? to answer these questions.

a. What length fish on Dariada Reef have the greatest fitness?Explain answer.

b. Given the length data you collected on Maugro Reef and usingthe data from Dariada Reef predict which length fish has thehighest fitness on Maugro.

c. If natural selection operates on fish length on Maugro thesame way as on Dariada, what would you expect to happen to thelengths of fish on Maugro over time? Give me numbers and explainreasoning.

Excel worksheets below

Dariada Reef standard length (cm) mean #spawns/month 2.5 0 2.55 0 2.6 0 2.65 0 2.7 0.488688241 2.75 0.971708356 5.48 Maugro Reef standard length (cm) each length value is for one fish 5.153333333 5.56 5.12 4.76 5.15 5.04 5.24 5.38