Bio 322 - Evolutionary Biology » Spring 2022 » Quiz 7 Fitness, Interactions

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Question #1
How can it be a better strategy for salmon to reproduce only once in its lifetime (and die afterwarrds), than reproducing more often like most animals?
A.   If they would reproduce more often, there would be too many salmon in the ocean, so this is an example of stabilizing selection.
B.   The streams of their birth are safer places for the offspring to hatch, but migration there is exhausting and risky.
C.   They have been artificially selected as food, so it is not by any means better for their species’ survival that they die after reproducing.
Question #2
If a species is subjected to adverse environmental conditions or predation leading to high mortality, what kind of reproductive strategy might it be selected for?
A.   An early onset of reproductive maturity ensures reproduction before individuals pass away.
B.   Mortality and lifespan do not affect selection of redroductive strategies, because organisms can reproduce anytime in their life.
C.   Late onset of reproductive maturity, few offspring and intensive parental care (K-selection).
Question #3
Some crazy scientists removed the ovaries of a group of female lizzards, and compared with a control group that were just cut without removing anything. The they measured their growth. Wha do you think they found?
A.   The female stopped growing because their lifecycle was interrupted not having ovaries, and not being able to reproduce.
B.   The female lizzards without ovaries had the same size as the ones with ovaries. They just could not reproduce.
C.   The female lizzards without ovaries grew larger because they did not need to invest ressources into repdroduction.
Question #4
Altruistic behavior helps another individual, and does not increase one’s individual fitness. Why are altruistic traits still selected for?
A.   Because group selection increases the survival of the population of altruistic individuals.
B.   Because individuals that cheat still have higher individual fitness, and the more cheaters, the more the altruistic alleles are spread.
C.   This can only happen through fixation of those alleles by inbreeding (genetic drift).
Question #5
How does kin selection of altruistic traits work?
A.   Alleles are passed on indirectly to the next generation through Batesian mimicry, so the actor eventually increases direct fitness through retrograde diffusion (Batesian rule).
B.   Only the selfish kin survives, so altruistic traits are gradually phased out of the gene pool of any species.
C.   Direct fitness of the individual may be decreased, but increases the fintess of close relatives (indirect fintess) and spreads more copies of the allele to the next generation (Hamilton’s rule).
Question #6
What is the parental-offspring conflict?
A.   It relates to very few species in nature, that live under such dire conditions that canibalism occurs. In order to survive it is just easier to eat offspring than fighting other adults.
B.   It is that parents have to be altruistic on several levels in order to ensure the survival of the next generation.
C.   It occurs when parents kill (but not eat) all offspring, including their own.
Question #7
First one species evolves defense mechanisms, such as toxins in plants, and then their predators then develop a resistance to it. What is the term for that concept?
A.   Diffuse coevolution.
B.   Escape-and-radiate-coevolution.
C.   Specific co-evolution.
Question #8
What is escape-and-radiate-coevolution?
A.   An evolutionary arms race where two species evolve in relation to each other.
B.   When a prey develops a speed that the predators cannot possibly match. It mostly evolves such a defense mechanism through sponaneous mutation via cosmic radiation.
C.   When a prey species evolves a defense or resistance against predators, and escapes association and pressure from that predator, and then diversifies unrestricted.
Question #9
A butterfly species mimics the color pattern of a second butterfly species, because the other species tastes bitter to birds, and birds have learned to avoid the second species. As a result, the birfs also don’t eat the mimic species What is that strategy called?
A.   Müllerian mimicry
B.   Batesian mimicry
C.   Non-exclusive mutualism
Question #10
Why is “Ecological Character Displacement” such a great feature of evolution?
A.   It leads different species to specialize in different niches and avoid competition. This increases their fitness and increases ecosystem diversity.
B.   It increases competition of species by converging them to compete for the same ressource, as only the fitter species can survive, it keeps the ecosystem healthy.
C.   It describes the displacement of non-beneficial characters such as altruism, by more fit characters such as predation that increases overall allele frequencies.

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