The Biological Species Concept is Based Upon

● Question 7: The biological species concept is based upon... ○ My wrong answer: physical characteristics ○ Correct answer: the potential to interbreed ○ My answer was wrong because the Biological species concept states that a species is a collection of populations that has the capacity to breed with one another in a way that results in the production of live, fertile children; they do not successfully crossbreed with other populations. ● Question 13: Which of the following is NOT one of the five Hardy-Weinberg conditions necessary to maintain a non-evolving population? ○ My wrong answer: The population is isolated and therefore there is no gene flow between populations. ○ Correct answer: Natural selection favors one allele over another. ○ My answer was wrong because allele frequencies will remain constant over generations when a population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for a gene. There are five fundamental Hardy-Weinberg presumptions: absence of mutation, asexual reproduction, absence of gene flow, limitless population size, and absence of selection. ● Question 14: When a small group colonizes a new habitat an evolutionary event is likely to occur because: ○ My wrong answer: Mutations are more common in novel environments ○ Correct answer: Small founding populations are rarely genetically representative of the initial population ○ My response was incorrect because a small population that settles a new habitat is typically not genetically representative of the initial population, which results in an evolutionary event. ● Question 17: Which of the following is most likely to produce rapid evolutionary changes? ○ My wrong answer: periodic allopatric speciation ○ Correct answer: development of postzygotic isolating mechanisms ○ My answer was wrong because postzygotic makes the offspring to not be able to survive or produce offspring which eventually ends to rapid evolutionary changes ● Question 21: ____ and ____ generate variation in a population, while ____ results in adaptation to the environment. ○ My wrong answer: natural selection . . . mutation . . . sexual recombination ○ Correct answer: mutation . . . sexual recombination . . . natural selection ○ My answer was wrong because natural selection does not generate variation in a population, but mutation and sexual recombinations cause variation in a population while natural selection’s main purpose is an adaptation to the environment. ● Question 22: A species is a genetic unit whose members share a group of genes called a(n)... ○ My wrong answer: Evolutionary adaptation ○ Correct answer: Gene pool ○ My answer was wrong because population members interbreed, they have a shared set of genes known as a gene pool. All the genes, including all the various alleles for each gene, that are present in a population make up the gene pool. They are made by counting the number of various alleles that they have. ● Question 25: How did Darwin’s observations regarding fitness contribute to his viewpoints on evolution? ○ My wrong answer: organisms best adapted to their environment are more likely to survive than those that are poorly adapted ○ Correct answer: all of these concepts were central to Darwin’s view of fitness ○ My response is incorrect because Darwin's theory of fitness was based on the ideas that organisms with the best environmental adaptation are more likely to survive than those with poor adaptation, that organisms differ in their genetic makeup, that organisms pass on their genetic traits to their offspring, and that organisms acquire fitness-influencing traits throughout their lifetime and pass these traits on to their offspring. ● Question 29: Sympatric speciation specifically EXCLUDES ________. ○ My wrong answer: postzygotic barriers ○ Correct answer: geographic isolation ○ My answer was wrong because Sympatric includes postzygotic barriers, behavioral isolation, mechanical isolation, and temporal isolation. ● Question 31: In Experiment 1, you recorded data similar to that shown on the right. Given this information, which of the statements below is most accurate? ○ My wrong answer: The stickleback population in Bear Paw Lake is more similar to marine and sea-run stickleback populations in terms of pelvic morphology than it is to the Frog Lake stickleback population. ○ Correct answer: The stickleback population in Frog Lake is more similar to marine and sea-run stickleback populations in terms of pelvic morphology than it is to the Bear Paw Lake stickleback population. ○ My answer was wrong because Frog lake had complete pelvic morphology which means they are more similar to marine and sea-run stickleback populations because they need pelvic spines to survive. On the other hand, Bear Paw Lake shows fresh water because they lack the pelvic spines to not be easily grabbed on by predators. ● Question 32: One of the functions of pelvic spines in the ocean is to protect stickleback from larger fish predators. Based on this knowledge, which statement might be a possible explanation for the differences in pelvic spines between Bear Paw Lake and Frog Lake sticklebacks? ○ My wrong answer: Frog Lake has no native predatory fishes such as trout. ○ Correct answer: Bear Paw Lake has no native predatory fishes. ○ My answer was wrong because I forgot that Bear Paw Lake contains nonnative predatory fishes that cause a mutation for the stickleback population to lack pelvic spines. On the other hand, Frog Lake resembles marine fish because the sticklebacks have spines meaning that there is the presence of native predatory fishes.