Exam 21: The Evolution of Populations

Use this information to answer the following questions. 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 estimated frequency of allele A in the gene pool?

Use this information to answer the following questions. You are studying three populations of birds. Population A has 10 birds, of which 1 is brown (a recessive trait) and 9 are red. Population B has 100 birds, of which 10 are brown. Population C has 30 birds, and 3 of them are brown. -Which population is most likely to be subject to the bottleneck effect?

A fruit fly population has a gene with two alleles, A1 and A2. Tests show that 70% of the gametes produced in the population contain the A1 allele. If the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, what proportion of the flies carry both A1 and A2?

Most Swiss starlings produce four to five eggs in each clutch. Starlings producing fewer, or more, than this have reduced fitness. Which of the following terms best describes this situation?

Use this information to answer the following questions. You are studying three populations of birds. Population A has 10 birds, of which 1 is brown (a recessive trait) and 9 are red. Population B has 100 birds, of which 10 are brown. Population C has 30 birds, and 3 of them are brown. -In which population would it be least likely that an accident would significantly alter the frequency of the brown allele?

In the year 2500, five male space colonists and five female space colonists (all unrelated to each other) settle on an uninhabited Earthlike planet in the Andromeda galaxy. The colonists and their offspring randomly mate for generations. All 10 of the original colonists had free earlobes, and 2 were heterozygous for that trait. The allele for free earlobes is dominant to the allele for attached earlobes. -If one assumes that Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium applies to the population of colonists on this planet, about how many people will have attached earlobes when the planet's population reaches 10,000?

The same gene that causes various coat patterns in wild and domesticated cats also causes a cross-eyed condition in these cats, the cross-eyed condition being slightly maladaptive. In a hypothetical environment, the coat pattern that is associated with crossed eyes is highly adaptive, with the result that both the coat pattern and the cross-eyed condition increase in a feline population over time. Which statement is supported by these observations?

Evolution

Although each of the following has a better chance of influencing gene frequencies in small populations than in large populations, which one most consistently requires a small population as a precondition for its occurrence?

Use the following information to answer the following questions. In those parts of equatorial Africa where the malaria parasite is most common, the sickle-cell allele constitutes 20% of the β hemoglobin alleles in the human gene pool. -The sickle-cell allele is pleiotropic (i.e., it affects more than one phenotypic trait). Specifically, this allele affects oxygen delivery to tissues and affects one's susceptibility to malaria. Under conditions of low atmospheric oxygen availability, individuals heterozygous for this allele can experience life-threatening sickle-cell "crises." Such individuals remain less susceptible to malaria. Thus, pleiotropic genes/alleles such as this can help explain why

Use the following information to answer the following questions. In those parts of equatorial Africa where the malaria parasite is most common, the sickle-cell allele constitutes 20% of the β hemoglobin alleles in the human gene pool. -Although selection is clearly present, if the ideal equilibrium of alleles existed, what should be the proportion of heterozygous individuals in populations that live here?

In seedcracker finches from Cameroon, small- and large-billed birds specialize in cracking soft and hard seeds, respectively. If long-term climatic change resulted in all seeds becoming hard, what type of selection would then operate on the finch population?

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

When imbalances occur in the sex ratio of sexual species that have two sexes (i.e., other than a 50:50 ratio), the members of the minority sex often receive a greater proportion of care and resources from parents than do the offspring of the majority sex. This is most clearly an example of

In the year 2500, five male space colonists and five female space colonists (all unrelated to each other) settle on an uninhabited Earthlike planet in the Andromeda galaxy. The colonists and their offspring randomly mate for generations. All 10 of the original colonists had free earlobes, and 2 were heterozygous for that trait. The allele for free earlobes is dominant to the allele for attached earlobes. -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?

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

In a Hardy-Weinberg population with two alleles, A and a, that are in equilibrium, the frequency of allele a is 0.2. What is the frequency of individuals that are heterozygous for this allele?

Rank the following one-base-point mutations (from most likely to least likely) with respect to their likelihood of affecting the structure of the corresponding polypeptide: 1. insertion mutation deep within an intron 2) substitution mutation at the third position of an exonic codon 3) substitution mutation at the second position of an exonic codon 4) deletion mutation within the first exon of the gene

In the year 2500, five male space colonists and five female space colonists (all unrelated to each other) settle on an uninhabited Earthlike planet in the Andromeda galaxy. The colonists and their offspring randomly mate for generations. All 10 of the original colonists had free earlobes, and 2 were heterozygous for that trait. The allele for free earlobes is dominant to the allele for attached earlobes. -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

Which statement about variation is true?