Turner and Trexler’s study of darter life history traits questioned whether or not there was a relationship between life history traits and gene flow. In order to determine this mysterious question, they decided to focus on a group of closely related organisms sharing evolutionary history. The main interest was to determine the relationship between egg size and egg number (or fecundity). Turner and Trexler predicted that gene flow will be higher in areas with high fecundity. Fifteen darter species (5 Percina species and 10 Etheostoma species) were used in the study because: they are considered the ideal study group, variation in life history, variation in body size (44-127 mm), variation in egg size (0.9-2.3 mm) and variation in number of eggs (49-397).…show more content… The results of the experiment confirmed that big darters produce more eggs than smaller darters. Along with the study results, the theory of trade-offs between offspring number and size is supported. Based on the results, Turner and Trexler predicted that larvae from larger eggs hatch earlier, feed earlier, cannot drift away so far and cannot disperse far as well. Less dispersion ledsto greater isolation, this then influenced a rapid gene differentiation. To observe the gene flow between the study areas, a genetics background was used. Gene variation influenced a greater amount of gene flow. In other words, larger eggs decreased gene flow, while smaller eggs increased gene flow. The importance of this study was to elaborate on the idea of population interactions and how gene variations are important to the
