Exam 23: The Evolution of Populations

In some jacana species, males take care of the eggs and young, and females compete among themselves for territories that contain one to several males. Female jacanas are significantly larger than males. Which of these statements would you predict to be true of this bird species? 1)Male jacana fitness is primarily limited by ability to take care of eggs and raise young. 2)Female jacana fitness is limited by the number of males in her territory with which a female mates. 3)Variation in reproductive success should be greater in male jacanas than in females. 4)Variation in reproductive success should be greater in female jacanas than in males. 5)Males and females have equal variation in reproductive success.

Which statement about variation is true?

Use the following information to answer the question below. Martin Wikelski and L. Michael Romero (Body size, performance and fitness in Galápagos marine iguanas, Integrative and Comparative Biology 43 [2003]:376-86) measured the snout-to-vent (anus) length of Galápagos marine iguanas and observed the percent survival of different-sized animals, all of the same age. The graph shows the log snout-vent length (SVL, a measure of overall body size) plotted against the percent survival of these different size classes for males and females. Examine the figure. What type of selection for body size appears to be occurring in these marine iguanas?

Which statement about the beak size of finches on the island of Daphne Major during prolonged drought is true?

Three-spined stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) show substantial heritable variation in gill-raker length related to differences in their diets. Longer gill rakers appear to function better for capturing open-water prey, while shorter gill rakers function better for capturing shallow-water prey. Which of the following types of selection is most likely to be found in a large lake (open water in the middle and shallow water around the sides) with a high density of these fish?

If the nucleotide variability of a locus equals 0%, what is the gene variability and number of alleles at that locus?

An earthquake decimates a ground-squirrel population, killing 98% of the squirrels. The surviving population happens to have broader stripes, on average, than the initial population. If broadness of stripes is genetically determined, what effect has the ground-squirrel population experienced during the earthquake?

Swine are vulnerable to infection by bird flu virus and human flu virus, which can both be present in an individual pig at the same time. When this occurs, it is possible for genes from bird flu virus and human flu virus to be combined. If the human flu virus contributes a gene for Tamiflu resistance (Tamiflu is an antiviral drug) to the new virus, and if the new virus is introduced to an environment lacking Tamiflu, then what is most likely to occur?

Use the following information to answer the question below. Researchers studying a small milkweed population note that some plants produce a toxin and other plants do not. They identify the gene responsible for toxin production. The dominant allele (T) codes for an enzyme that makes the toxin, and the recessive allele (t) codes for a nonfunctional enzyme that cannot produce the toxin. Heterozygotes produce an intermediate amount of toxin. The genotypes of all individuals in the population are determined (see chart) and used to determine the actual allele frequencies in the population. Is this population in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

A large population of laboratory animals has been allowed to breed randomly for a number of generations. After several generations, 25% of the animals display a recessive trait (aa), the same percentage as at the beginning of the breeding program. The rest of the animals show the dominant phenotype, with heterozygotes indistinguishable from the homozygous dominants. What is the most reasonable conclusion that can be drawn from the fact that the frequency of the recessive trait (aa) has not changed over time?

A large population of laboratory animals has been allowed to breed randomly for a number of generations. After several generations, 25% of the animals display a recessive trait (aa), the same percentage as at the beginning of the breeding program. The rest of the animals show the dominant phenotype, with heterozygotes indistinguishable from the homozygous dominants. What proportion of the population is probably heterozygous (Aa) for this trait?

A proficient engineer can easily design skeletal structures that are more functional than those currently found in the forelimbs of such diverse mammals as horses, whales, and bats. The actual forelimbs of these mammals do not seem to be optimally arranged because ________.

Why does the fitness of a phenotype depend on frequency-dependent selection?

In 1983, a population of dark-eyed junco birds became established on the campus of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), which is located many miles from the junco's normal habitat in the mixed-coniferous temperate forests in the mountains. Juncos have white outer tail feathers that the males display during aggressive interactions and during courtship displays. Males with more white in their tail are more likely to win aggressive interactions, and females prefer to mate with males with more white in their tails. Females have less white in their tails than do males, and display it less often. (Pamela J. Yeh. 2004. Rapid evolution of a sexually selected trait following population establishment in a novel habitat. Evolution 58[1]:166-74.) The UCSD campus male junco population tails were, on average, 36% white, whereas the tails of males from nearby mountain populations averaged 40-45% white. If this observed trait difference were due to a difference in the original colonizing population, it would most likely be due to ________.

In the formula for determining a population's genotype frequencies, the "2" in the term 2pq is necessary because ________.

Which of the following is the most predictable outcome of increased gene flow between two populations?

The following experiment is used for the corresponding question. A researcher discovered a species of moth that lays its eggs on oak trees. Eggs are laid at two distinct times of the year: early in spring when the oak trees are flowering and in midsummer when flowering is past. Caterpillars from eggs that hatch in spring feed on oak flowers and look like oak flowers. But caterpillars that hatch in summer feed on oak leaves and look like oak twigs. How does the same population of moths produce such different-looking caterpillars on the same trees? To answer this question, the biologist caught many female moths from the same population and collected their eggs. He put at least one egg from each female into eight identical cups. The eggs hatched, and at least two larvae from each female were maintained in one of the four temperature and light conditions listed below. In each of the four environments, one of the caterpillars was fed oak flowers, the other oak leaves. Thus, there were a total of eight treatment groups (4 environments × 2 diets). Which of the following is a testable hypothesis that would explain the differences in caterpillar appearance observed in this population?

Arrange the following in order from most general to most specific. 1)natural selection 2)microevolution 3)intrasexual selection 4)evolution 5)sexual selection

Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder in homozygous recessives that causes death during the teenage years. If 9 in 10,000 newborn babies have the disease, what are the expected frequencies of the dominant (A1) and recessive (A2) alleles according to the Hardy-Weinberg equation?

You are maintaining a small population of fruit flies in the laboratory by transferring the flies to a new culture bottle after each generation. After several generations, you notice that the viability of the flies has decreased greatly. Recognizing that small population size is likely to be linked to decreased viability, the best way to reverse this trend is to ________.