Deck 4: Behavioral Genetics

Question 1

Which of the following does NOT provide clear evidence for a genetic basis of behavior?

A) Epistatic behaviors
B) Instinct behaviors
C) Innate behaviors
D) Reflex behaviors
E) Fixed action pattern behaviors

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What data allowed Bastock to conclude that a single gene mutation affected fruit fly behavior?

A) Mutant flies had fewer pheromone receptors than wild-type flies
B) Mutant flies obtained fewer matings than wild-type flies
C) Mutant flies were a different color than wild-type flies
D) Mutant flies displayed less courtship behavior than wild-type flies
E) Mutant flies were less common in nature than wild-type flies

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following observations prompted Margaret Bastock's research on fly courtship in "yellow" flies

A) Yellow flies do not occur in nature
B) Yellow flies are rare in nature but reproduce successfully in the lab
C) Yellow flies are more common in nature than wild type flies
D) Yellow files are larger than wild type
E) Yellow flies change color as they age

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In Margaret Bastock's research examining the courtship behavior of wild type and "yellow" forms of fruit flies she interbred wild type and "yellow" flies to create inbred flies. What was the purpose of this?

A) To create populations of flies that were very similar except for the "yellow" gene
B) To control for environmental conditions during rearing
C) To create populations of flies with the same courtship behavior
D) To control for the age of the flies
E) To control for the mating success of males

Question 5

Which of the following could Margaret Bastock conclude from her research examining the courtship behavior of wild type and "yellow" forms of fruit flies?

A) Wild type males had lower mating success than the rarer yellow forms males
B) Yellow males had higher mating success than wild type males
C) Variation in the behavioral phenotypes of males was not associated with the two different genotypes of the males
D) Both types of males have different genotypes but similar mating success
E) Variation in the genotypes was associated with the variation in the behavioral phenotypes

Question 6

Which of the following is required in order to conduct a QTL analysis?

A) A knockout gene
B) A gene-environment interaction
C) A linkage map
D) Epistatic genetic effects
E) A reaction norm

Question 7

Which of the following statements best reflects the work of Kenneth Ross (1997) on fire ants?

A) He identified important gene-environment interactions that affect social behavior.
B) He used a knockout technique to understand variation in social organization.
C) He used QTL analysis to understand the ants' social behavior.
D) He used a linkage map to identify minor genes affecting the ants' behavior.
E) He identified a major gene that affected social organization.

Question 8

Which of the following is true about the Gp-9 gene in fire ants?

A) Monogyne colonies all have a single allele at the gene locus and one genotype.
B) The gene codes for a regulatory protein that affects reproduction.
C) The gene has three alleles and colonies possess four genotypes.
D) The gene codes for AVP1 and regulates aggression.
E) The gene codes for a "socially responsive" protein that regulates the number of queens in a colony.

Question 9

Which of the following is true about the knockout technique?

A) It compares the epistatic and additive effects of a disabled gene.
B) It uses a linkage map to examine the heritability of a gene that has been disabled.
C) It breaks gene-environment interactions by disabling a gene.
D) It compares the behavior of wild-type individuals and those with a disabled gene.
E) It allows estimation of heritability by disabling a gene.

Question 10

You measure the narrow-sense heritability of two behavioral traits. For trait A, heritability is 0.1. For trait B, it is 0.6. For both traits, phenotypic variation is identical. Which of the following can be concluded from these data?

A) The variance due to interactive effects is higher for trait B.
B) The variance due to dominance effects is higher for trait A.
C) The variance due to additive effects is higher for trait B.
D) The variance due to genetic effects is lower for trait A.
E) The variance due to epistatic effects is higher for trait B.

Question 11

You measure narrow-sense heritability for three traits and find that it is 0.1 for trait A, 0.5 for trait B, and 0.8 for trait C. Which of the following can you conclude from your data?

A) A parent-offspring regression for trait C will have the highest slope.
B) Selection on trait A will have no effect on the population mean for this trait.
C) A parent-offspring regression for trait B will be a flat line.
D) Selection on each behavior will result in similar changes in the population mean for each trait.
E) A parent-offspring regression on trait A will have a slope of 0.9.

Question 12

Which of the following was used as evidence by Dingemanse and colleagues (2002) to conclude that exploratory behavior in great tits was a heritable trait?

A) Selection on exploratory behavior resulted in strong population changes over four generations
B) Individuals differed greatly in their exploratory behavior
C) Inbreeding did not affect exploratory behavior
D) Individuals with high exploratory behavior had the highest fitness
E) The exploratory behavior of an individual was highly repeatable

Question 13

Dingemanse and colleagues (2002) found a positive correlation between a mother's exploratory behavior and that of her offspring. Which of the following can be concluded from this result?

A) Dominant selection is acting on exploratory behavior
B) Exploratory behavior is an adaptation
C) Exploratory behavior is shaped by stabilizing selection
D) Natural selection can act on exploratory behavior
E) Sexual selection is acting on exploratory behavior is affected by under sexual selection

Question 14

Both Kenneth Ross's research on social behavior in fire ants (1997) and Isadora Bielsky's research on the function of the AVPRiA receptor in mice……

A) Examined the effect of different alleles on social behavior
B) Examined the effect of a single gene on behavior
C) Examined several genes associated with each behavior
D) Determined the heritability of the trait
E) Determined there is significant gene-environment interactions

Question 15

What approach did Marks et al. (2005) use to study the environmental influence on aggression in zebrafish?

A) They compared the behavior of parents and offspring raised in different environments.
B) They selected for aggressive behavior in different environments.
C) They observed the aggressive behavior of populations that live in different environments.
D) They observed aggression in one population that was exposed to two different environments.
E) They exposed genetically similar individuals to different environments and compared their aggression.

Question 16

Which of the following allows a researcher to conclude that environmental factors affect behavior?

A) Genetically similar individuals raised in different environments behave differently.
B) Genetically different individuals raised in the same environment behave differently.
C) Genetically similar individuals raised in the same environment behave differently.
D) Genetically different individuals raised in different environments behave the same.
E) Genetically similar individuals behave the same in all environments.

Question 17

Microarray analysis allows researchers to examine which of the following?

A) Reaction norm
B) Heritability of a trait
C) Dominance effects
D) Gene expression
E) Animal personalities

Question 18

To investigate environmental effects on gene expression, Ellis and Carney (2011) did which of the following?

A) They allowed males to interact first with a male and then with a female and examined which genes were expressed during each interaction.
B) They allowed males to interact with either males or females and examined the genes that were expressed in each group.
C) They allowed females to interact with males or females and examined gene expression in each group.
D) They allowed females to interact with males and then females and examined gene expression after each interaction.
E) They allowed males and females to interact and recorded gene expression in each sex.

Question 19

What is the important distinction between closed-ended and open-ended learners?

A) Closed-ended learners have a fixed sensitive period, while open-ended learners do not.
B) Closed-ended learners must hear a tutor for proper song development, while open-ended learners do not need to do so.
C) Open-ended learners must hear a tutor for proper song development, while closed-ended learners do not need to do so.
D) Open-ended learners have a shorter sensitive period than closed-ended learners.
E) Open-ended learners must hear a live tutor, while closed-ended learners do not need to do so.

Question 20

Which of the following genes is expressed in the song circuit of the avian brain?

A) For
B) AVP1
C) Gp-9
D) FoxP2
E) Yellow

Question 21

Which of the following is NOT associated with the avian song circuit?

A) Posterior nucleus
B) Area X
C) Hippocampus
D) ZENK
E) Anterior nucleus

Question 22

A researcher measured the aggressive behavior of genetic clones reared in three different environments and found the following results. This is an illustration of what?

A) An animal personality
B) Strong genetic effects on behavior
C) Gene-environment interaction
D) A reaction norm
E) Epistasis

Question 23

What data allowed researchers to conclude that there was a significant gene-environment interaction affecting larval foraging behavior in fruit flies?

A) In the absence of food, rover and sitter genotypes behaved similarly, while in the presence of food, they behaved differently.
B) Rover and sitter genotypes are maintained in the population by frequency-dependent selection.
C) Rover and sitter genotypes are maintained in the population by density-dependent selection.
D) The behavior of larval rovers differed from that of adult sitters.
E) The behavior of larval sitters differed from that of adult rovers.

Question 24

Which of the following is true of genomic approaches in the study of behavior?

A) Researchers tend to focus on minor rather than major genes
B) Some individuals must exhibit abnormal behavior
C) Such studies require the use of knockout individuals
D) Individuals are measured repeatedly
E) The heritabilties of traits examined must be known

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT true about genomic approaches in behavior?

A) The entire genome is often examined
B) Some individuals must exhibit abnormal behavior
C) Phenotypic differences are correlated with differences in gene expression
D) Results provide information about minor rather than major genes
E) Studies can be conducted on traits with unknown heritability values

Question 26

A common approach used in a genomic study of behavior might

A) Examine gene-environment interactions for individuals that are reared in the same environment
B) Measure the heritabilities of a behavior for individuals raised in different environments
C) Record epigenetic profiles of siblings raised in the same environment
D) Compare gene expression profiles for individuals that experience different environments
E) Compare the DNA sequences of siblings raised in the different environments

Question 27

Which of the following is evidence of behavioral personalities?

A) Individuals that have the highest exploratory scores in the absence of a predator also have the highest exploratory scores in the presence of a predator.
B) Individuals that have the highest exploratory scores in the absence of a predator have the lowest exploratory scores when a predator is present.
C) Individuals with the highest exploratory scores in the absence of a predator have the highest fitness.
D) Individuals exhibit different exploratory scores in the presence and absence of a predator.
E) The presence of a predator does not affect an individual's exploratory score.

Question 28

What did Wolf et al. (2007) conclude from their model of animal personalities?

A) Risky behavior enhances long-term reproduction.
B) Risky individuals had higher fitness than shy individuals.
C) Risky and shy individuals always differ in fitness.
D) The lifetime fitness of risky and shy animals was the same.
E) Resource acquisition is unaffected by risky and shy behavior.

Question 29

A set of full-sibling juvenile wolf spiders was divided into two groups. One set was reared in low-temperature conditions, while the other set was reared in high-temperature conditions until they were adults. As adults, each individual was exposed to a predator at a moderate temperature and the groups exhibited very different escape behavior-those reared in low-temperature conditions fled sooner than those reared in high-temperature conditions. Which of the following can be concluded from these data?

A) Antipredator behavior exhibits a gene-environment interaction.
B) Antipredator behavior is heritable.
C) Antipredator behavior changes over time.
D) There is an environmental influence on antipredator behavior.
E) Genes and the environment affect antipredator behavior.

Question 30

When mice are placed in an open field test arena, researchers are examining an individual's response to what?

A) Stress
B) Competition
C) Hunger
D) Darkness
E) Thirst

Question 31

Consider two genotypes 1 and 2 exposed to two environments A and B in which total activity level of individuals was recorded. In environment A, genotype 1 had higher activity levels than genotype 2. In environment B, genotype 2 had higher activity level than genotype 1. This pattern is an example of what?

A) Epistasis
B) Dominance
C) Gene-Environment interaction
D) Pleitropy
E) Allele masking

Question 32

Define animal personality then explain how the existence of personalities indicates that genes can limit behavioral flexibility. What personalities did Jannis Liedtke's research team study in jumping spiders?

Question 33

Describe the three types of genetic effects that affect phenotypic variation.

Question 34

Describe how major genes are identified through knockdown studies.

Question 35

A parent-offspring regression of singing activity behavior (measured as rate of song production) in cardinals results in a slope of 0.6 while a parent-offspring regression on aggressive behavior in lizards (measured as rate of aggressive interactions ) results in a slope of 0.2. Now imagine conducting a selection experiment on both species in which you only allow individual cardinals with the highest singing activity and only lizards with the highest aggressive behavior to mate for several generations. Describe the predicted changes in singing behavior in the selected cardinal population versus the predicted change in aggression in the selected lizard population after 10 generations.

Question 36

Draw a graph that indicates the existence of gene-environment interactions. Be sure to label both axes and describe each line on the graph.

Question 37

Draw a graph that would show no evidence of animal personalities in a population of individuals.