Gaya clownfish project (proposal)

From BiodivBorneo09

QUESTION-- Does community size influence anemonefishes' tendency toward aggression?

HYPOTHESIS-- Anemonefish living in larger communities will be more likely to aggressively defend their anemones; anemonefish living in smaller communities (or living alone) will be more likely to hide or flee instead of coming out to attack.

NULL HYPOTHESIS-- Whether or not an anemonefish attacks is not based on whether or not it lives in a community; it is random, or it is based on something else.

CONFOUNDING FACTORS-- By standardizing species of anemonefish, we are essentially standardizing species and morphology of anemones, because of the fact that the symbiotic relationship is often species-specific, as proven by previous studies (CITE THIS). Spine-cheek anemonefish and False Clown Anemonefish.

METHODS-- Test every anemone we see. Standardize: one person disturbs, one person records, one person watches.

Dependent variable: it's a FACTOR (fight or don't) Independent variable: its CONTINUOUS (number of fish in a community) STATISTICAL METHODS: GLM (binomial family), Logistic Regression

likelihood to attack on y-axis, community size (amount of backup) on x-axis.