Final Exam
Mendel's law of segregation states that
- each parents has two alleles for a trait - the two alleles present in the parent separate during meiosis into gametes - offspring inherit one allele from each parent
In a phylogenetic tree, an outgroup
- helps establish polarity - usually represents a taxa with the ancestral character trait
Which of the following describes the relationship between body size in doves and body length of their lice?
- parasite-prey interaction - cospeciation - symbiosis
For bluegill fish, when the density of daphnia are low the best strategy is to eat
- small daphnia - medium daphnia - large daphnia
In a small, isolated population that was founded by just a few individuals, you would expect that
- the inbreeding coefficient is greater than zero - that assortative mating is going on in the population - allele frequencies are not changing in the population from one generation to the next
When trying to determine the maximum sustainable yield (MSY)
- the population size should be maintaines at K/2 - the growth rate of the population will equal zero
Population fluctuations can be caused by
- time delays - high growth rate - density-independent factors
The Permian mass extinction was most likely caused by
- volcanic eruptions - global hypoxia - release of methane gas
A new mutation arises in a population of spiders (which are diploid) with an effective population size of 116. If that mutation is neutral, what is the probability that it will go to fixation?
0.0043
The frequency of two alleles in a population are 0.2 (A1) and 0.8 (A2). Assume that the population is in Hardy-Weinburg equilibrium. What is the expected frequency of heterozygous individuals in the population?
0.32
In a population that is in Hardy-Weinburg equilibrium, the frequency of recessive homozygotes is 0.16 in the population. What is the percentage of individuals in the population who are homozygous dominant?
0.36
For any given allele copy in a diploid, sexually reproducing parent, what is the chance that the allele will be passed on to each of its offspring?
0.50
How many mass extinctions have occurred?
5
If an RR flower is red, an Rr flower is pink, and an rr flower is white, what percentage of the offspring from a cross between an RR individual and an Rr individual will be red?
50%
Background extinction is responsible for _______ of all extinctions that have occurred.
95%
What is the likely phylogenetic explanation for the crossing of food and air pathways in humans?
A connection between the two pathways evolved because lungs originated as an extension of the esophagus
The relative fitness of three genotypes is w(A1A1) = 1, w(A1A2) = 1, and w(A2A2)=0.75. What will happen to the A1 allele over time if no other evolutionary forces are acting on the population?
A1 will become fixed in the population after several generations
Hair texture (curly, wave, straight) is an example of a trait with incomplete dominance in humans. In a population of 1000 individuals, 245 were found to have straight hair (A1A1), 393 had curly hair (A1A2) and 362 had wavy hair (A2A2). Calculate the frequency of the A3 allele in the population
A2 = 0.56
If we are interested in the A, B, and C loci of a diploid organism, which of the following would be a possible haplotype?
AbC
Konrad Lorenz argued that "for the good of the species," animal fights (such as male-male combat) are rarely lethal. Which of the following is the most compelling counterargument to this assertion?
An individual showing no restraint during fights would eliminate its competitors and maximize its individual fitness.
The oldfield mouse study is a textbook example of hypothesis testing among natural selection (adaptation) studies. Which of the following is NOT correct regarding the main findings of this study?
Coat color in the oldfield mouse does not seem to have any adaptive value
Which of the following statements is FALSE?
Epigenetic information cannot be passed down across generations
The figure shows the relationships among featherless and feathered dinosaurs and birds. Based on this phylogeny, what can you say about the evolution of feathers?
Feathers are an exaptation for flight
If two genes are located on the same chromosome and are linked what would you expect to see in the offspring
Fewer phenotypes than expected based on a Punnet square
When we compare primate karyotypes (chromosome sets), interesting evidence of our genetic relatedness is revealed. What is the main difference between the human karyotype and the karyotypes of the great apes?
Humans have one fewer pair of chromosomes as a result of the fusion of chromosomes 2p and 2q in chimpanzees
Which of the following describes the physiological explanation for fever in mammals?
Immune cells recognize the presence of a pathogen and release cytokines, which signal a shift in body temperature.
If directional selection is acting on a population, in which type of directional selection will alleles reach equilibrium fastest?
Incomplete dominance with the heterozygote displaying intermediate fitness
Which of the following equations illustrates the correct relationship?
Indirect fitness + Direct fitness = Inclusive fitness
Which of the following does not describe polyploidy?
It is not common in domesticated plants
Using a logistic growth model, a population will decrease in size
N/K > 1
In the guppies (Poecilia reticulata) of Trinidad and Tobago, natural selection may act differently in different locations of the waterfalls. Upstream of such waterfalls, guppies typically face only mild predation pressure from one small species of fish. Downstream of the waterfalls, however, populations of guppies often are under severe predation pressure from voracious predators such as the pike cichlid. What life history strategy would be favored by natural selection in the downstream waterfalls?
Natural selection should favor females that produce as many small offspring as possible, rather than producing larger but fewer offspring
Is haplodiploidy a necessary condition for the evolution of eusociality?
No, eusociality is also found in diploid organisms such as naked mole rats
Allele X codes for a cooperative behavior among half siblings (r = 0.25). Recipients of this behavior receive a benefit of four fitness units (b=4) and the behavior costs the donor two fitness units (c=2). Using Hamilton's rule (rb > c), would you expect allele X to spread in the population?
No; allele Z would decrease in frequency within the population
A figure illustrates an evolutionary trade-off in binocular vision in birds. Which of the following is NOT true regarding the trade-off in this case?
Ostriches have better binocular vision than owls because their eyes are set on opposite sides of their head
Which of the following statements about pedigrees and phylogenies is true?
Pedigrees tell us about the ancestry of individuals; phylogenies tell us about the ancestry of populations
Which hypothesis for the evolution of sexual reproduction states that sex is an adaptation for escaping pathogens?
Red Queen hypothesis
The relative fitness of three genotypes is w(A1A1) = 1, w(A1A2) = 1, and w(A2A2)=0.75. Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between the genotypes and their relative fitness?
The A2A2 genotype has a 25% reduction in fitness compared to the other genotypes
Richard Lenski and his colleagues have been tracking evolutionary change for more than 60,000 generations in the bacterium Escherichia coli (Le Gac et al. 2012; Wiser et al. 2012). According to the figure, which statement is NOT correct regarding their results?
The cell volume and fitness of the E. coli lines increased over time, but none of the lines experienced natural selection
Which of the following helps explain why most species display an even sex ratio?
When males are rare, a parent that produces more males will have more grandchildren on average
Which of the following is not a density-dependent factor?
a freeze event
Which of the following is an example of Batesian mimicry?
a harmless cockroach evolves to look like a noxious ladybug beetle
Which of the following is an example of a population bottleneck?
a large population of frogs is greatly reduced due to a drought
A haplotype is....
a set of alleles at different loci along a chromosome
Narrow-sense heritability is defined as the ________ genetic variation divided by the ________ variation.
additive, total phenotypic
Which of the following is not true concerning symbiotic relationships?
all mutualistic relationships are examples of symbiosis
Genetic drift causes changes in ________.
allele frequencies
In human population, reproduction is continuous. For human populations, the most appropriate way to model growth would be to use
an exponential model
Artificial selection could be described as all of the following, EXCEPT _________.
an increase in the frequency of traits that are associated with increased survival and increased reproductive frequency in the wild
When new forms appear in the fossil record without branching speciation it is called ____________.
anagenesis
Consider two loci located close together on single chromosome. These loci ......
are physically linked
In the fossil record, the estimated date of an organism's extinction is likely to be earlier than it actually occurred because of _______________.
backwards smearing
What do we know about fevers in ectotherms?
behavioral adaptations, such as basking, to induce a fever
Why did the pre-Mendelian theory of blending inheritance pose a major challenge to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection?
blending inheritance would eliminate variation in a population
Drift and selection both affect genetic variation in what way?
both decrease genetic variation in a population
If the prisoner's dilemma game is played only once, what would we NOT expect to see?
both players cooperate
Which of the following equations predicts evolutionary change for quantitative traits.
breeder's equation
Which of the following is not evidence that an asteroid impact caused the last mass extinction?
carbon dating of fossils
Given that the cost of producing a fever is less than the benefit, we would expect
cases where a fever response occur but was not needed to fight infection.
What ecological role were the nitrogen-fixing Bradyrhizobium japonicum bacteria in soybean root nodules effectively playing when the experimenters removed nitrogen from the air?
cheater
The AB blood type in humans is an example of
codominance
________ is the probability that the homologous alleles in two individuals are identical by descent due to inheritance of the alleles from a common ancestor.
coefficient of relatedness
The interior nodes on a phylogenetic tree represent...
common ancestors
Which of the following factors does not make it less likely that an organisms will go extinct?
endemic species found in a specific habitat
In a population of dragonflies, wing structure is determined by two loci (A, B), each with two alleles (A and a, B and b). Abnormal wings are produced in aa individuals unless they possess at least one B allele. This is an example of what evolutionary phenomenon?
epistasis
If both partners benefit from the relationship but do not require it, this is referred to as
facultative mutualism
Which statement best describes the phenomenon of "antagonistic pleiotropy" in evolution?
genes that affect more than one characteristic and have a negative effect on fitness in one context, but a positive effect in another
In quantitative genetics, phenotypic variation is composed of ________ variation and ___________ variation.
genetic and environmental
Which of the following strategies allows vertebrate hosts to counteract the higher evolutionary rates of most pathogens?
genetic variation through sexual reproduction
When young are added to the population only at specific times of the year, such as discrete reproductive periods, the most appropriate way to model population growth would be
geometric growth model
An adaptation refers to a __________.
hereditary trait that makes organisms more fit in their environment and that has arisen as a result of the action of natural selection
In a small population, what will happen to heterozygosity over time?
heterozygosity will decrease
Experimental infection of lizards with heat-killed bacteria by Linda Vaughn et al. (1974) resulted in behavioral changes that led to ________ in the lizards.
higher body temperature
The effective population size (Ne) is often lower than the census size of a population because__________.
in real populations, individuals contribute unequally to future generations
Why is there no lifelong vaccine protection against influenza (flu virus) as there is for measles?
influenza escapes the host immune system by generating new strains
Which definition best describes diffuse coevolution.
involves more than two species resulting in difficulty in establishing the effect of each species on the other species
All of the following increase the chances of fossil formation except
it must be a land dwelling species
When an offspring phenotype is outside of the range of parental phenotypes is most likely due to
latent variation
When R is high and τ is high what will happen to population size?
limit cycle
The statistical association of alleles at different loci is referred to as
linkage disequilibrium
When deciding whether or not to add another prey type to the diet, a forager should aim to
maximize overall profitability
Which of the following statements is true?
most mutations are either neutral or deleterious with respect to fitness
Which of the mutations in the figure below depicts a nonsense mutation?
mutation C
Which of the following reflects the degree to which offspring resemble their parents in a population?
narrow-sense heritability
Evolution of antibiotic resistance is the result of _________.
natural selection
Which of the following processes will change allele frequencies in a population the fastest?
natural selection
In drosophila larvae there are two phenotypes, rover and sitters. The rovers expend more energy find resources but have a fitness advantage as long as their frequency in the population is low. This is an example of which type of selection?
negative-frequency-dependent selection
With no mutation, an mRNA sequence reads 'UCA' which codes for serine. A mutation arises that changes the sequence to 'UCC', which codes for serine. This is an example of all of the following types of mutation EXCEPT
nonsense mutation
Only one remaining species from the genus Ginkgo remains today, Ginkgo biloba. This species was brought back from the brink of extinction about 1,000 years ago. After pollination, the female tree produces fleshy "fruits" that have a rancid smell. The smell is believed to attract seed-dispersing animals but today there are no known animals that eat and disperse Ginkgo seeds. It is believed that these animal dispersers are extinct. For Ginkgo biloba, this original relationship was an example of
obligate mutualism
Empirical research is very important in evolutionary biology. There are two main types of such research, which could be classified as _______.
observation and manipulation
A founder effect changes allele frequencies because
only a random subset of alleles in the original population are represented in the newly founded population
The evolutionary model stating that new species arise gradually of long periods of time from ancestral species is the _____.
phyletic equilibrium model
Which type of inheritance produces continuous variation in a trait?
polygenetic
If the relationship between three or more taxa is unresolved, this is referred to as a......
polytomy
Natural selection is a process by which the characteristics of a(n) ______ will change over time.
population
Which of the following is not an assumption of the exponential growth model?
population size is always increasing
Among which of the following groups of organisms is cooperation via reciprocal altruism most likely to evolve?
primates in a social group that frequently interact with the same individuals
One of the basic ideas in the theory of evolution is that the more closely related two species are, the more __________.
recently they shared a common ancestor
Which of the following is most likely to break up linkage disequilibrium?
recombination via crossing over
If the benefit of a new allele is s=0.03 and the effective population size is 10o, which force will dominate in the population? Remember the relationship between s and 1/2Ne
selection
Imagine an island archipelago where all of the islands are founded by a small number of individuals heterozygous at a particular locus. If there is no migration or mutation, and the alleles at that locus are neutral, what do you expect the island populations to look like after many generations?
some island populations will have fixed one allele, and other populations will have fixed the other allele
After a population bottleneck, when the population recovers and increases in size, genetic variation in the population will _______.
still be low and similar to what it was during the bottleneck event
An evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) is a
strategy that, if adopted by all members of the population, cannot be invaded by a mutant strategy.
What is the role of the bacteria found in the whitish-gray crust on the ants who tend fungal gardens?
the bacteria provides antibiotics that target parasitic fungi dangerous to the fungal garden
In order for natural selection to operate on foraging behavior, _______.
the behavior must be heritable
Why do woodland star flowers likely abort flower heads with Greya moth eggs in geographic locations where other non-flower-feeding pollinators are present?
the costs of having the moth pollinator outweighed the benefits; therefore, selection favored an antagonistic response from the plant
Large, flightless species went extinct on the Hawaiian islands during
the first wave of colonization
In the following equation: N(t) = N(0)ert The variable N(0) represent
the initial population size (a population size equal to zero)
In the following equation: N(t) = N(0)ert The variable r represent
the intrinsic growth rate
On the following graph, the dot placed where the two lines intersects represents what?
the optimal time to leave a given patch
When coevolution occurs between two species we expect that
there will be a higher rate of genetic change
If the distance between patches is high and the habitat quality within patches in low, the best foraging strategy would be to
to remain in each patch for a longer amount of time
Humans could evolve thicker bones, which would reduce the likelihood of fractures but this would reduce mobility and lead to higher energy demands. This is an example of
trade-off
All of the following are evolved immune defenses that attempt to isolate pathogens, minimize the harm they cause, and remove them from the body, EXCEPT ________ systems.
viral reverse transcription
What is the difference between cladograms, phylograms, and chronograms?
what the branch length represents
When gene flow occurs from a mainland population, with an allele frequency of p=0.65, to an island population with an allele frequency of p=0.35. When will allele frequencies on the island reach equilibrium?
when p=0.65 in the island population
