Concept explainers
You are a conservation biologist charged with creating a recovery plan for an endangered species of turtle. The turtle's habitat has been fragmented by suburbanization and highway construction into small, isolated, but protected areas. Some evidence indicates that certain turtle populations are adapted to typical freshwater marshes, whereas others are adapted to acidic wetlands or salty habitats. Further, some turtle populations number less than 25 breeding adults, making genetic drift and inbreeding a major concern. In creating a recovery plan, the tools at your disposal are captive breeding, the capture and transfer of adults to create gene flow, or the creation of habitat corridors between wetlands to make migration possible. How would you use gene flow to help this species?
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Biological Science
- What are the advantage and disadvantages of inbreeding in the economy? Give a solid example.arrow_forwardImagine that you are asked to manage a population of wolves that have taken upresidence on an island off the coast of Alaska. Because prey resources are limited, theisland will support only about 50 wolves at any one time. What steps would you take toprevent inbreeding and genetic drift in the population in the future?arrow_forwardThis type of experiment, where members of an outbred populations are introduced to an inbred population as mating partners, is sometimes called a “genetic rescue”. How might measuring the average heterozygosity at a number of loci in the Swedish snake population allow you to test whether the introduced snakes had actually bred successfully with the inbred Swedish snakes?arrow_forward
- In a population, the frequencies of two alleles are B = 0.67 and b = 0.33. The genotype frequencies are BB = 0.50, Bb = 0.37, and bb = 0.13. Do these numbers suggest inbreeding? Explain why or why not.arrow_forwardWhen we take, say, 100 individuals of a species of beetle from the wild and place them in a new environment that is not so different that they are unable to thrive but different enough so that they are experiencing a new selective regime, say, a lower temperature, what typically happens? A - Sexual selection causes some larvae to be able to survive in the cooler temperatures and other individuals to be unable to survive because they need warmer temperatures. B - We are unable to measure phenotypic selection, presumably because we do not have much variation among individuals for how they handle temperature. C - The founder event assures us that the new population will be strictly representative of the source population (especially if we took all the 100 from the same location rather that from throughout the range of the species). D - The population evolves to be tolerant of the lower temperature; it can do this because of latent variation already in the 100 founding individuals. E -…arrow_forwardYou are asked to assess whether a population of endangered salamanders can adapt to warming climate in their preferred habitat. The salamanders vary at a locus that determines adaptation to temperature, and the warming climate creates selection favoring one of two alleles at that locus. Drawing on what you know about natural selection and genetic drift, what information would you need to know about the salamanders to determine whether the allele that improves their adaptation to warmer climates will become fixed in the population? Strictly no plagiarism.arrow_forward
- . It seems clear that inbreeding causes a reduction in fitness. Can you explain why?arrow_forwardIn the 1900s, the Florida panther population declined drastically due to hunting and habitat loss, and, by the mid-1990s, there were fewer than 30 Florida panthers left in the wild. What were the most likely consequences of this decline in population size on the frequency of genetic abnormalities, such as malformed testicles, in the remaining population? A. The frequency of genetic abnormalities decreased due to the weakest panthers being eliminated through natural selection. B. The frequency of genetic abnormalities increased due to an increased rate of migration of other panthers into the population. C. The frequency of genetic abnormalities increased due to the random loss of genetic diversity and increased inbreeding in small populations. D. The frequency of genetic abnormalities decreased because the concentration of adaptive alleles in the small population decreased as the population declined.arrow_forwardIn general, what is the effect of complete selection, migration and random genetic drift on the gene frequencies of the population? b. migrationarrow_forward
- In general, what is the effect of complete selection, migration and random genetic drift on the gene frequencies of the population? a. complete selection b. migration c. random genetic driftarrow_forwardYou are studying a population of penguins in Antarctica. Your DNA analysis of this population reveals that for the feather color pattern gene, 35 individuals are homozygous dominant, 35 individuals are heterozygous, and 30 individuals are homozygous recessive. After observing this population for several years, you repeat your DNA study and find that the current generation of penguins has 15 individuals that are homozygous dominant, 10 individuals that are heterozygous, and 75 individuals that are homozygous recessive. Which of the following hypotheses for this data would be supported by this data based on your understanding of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium? This population of penguins is maintaining Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium due to its large population size. The penguins are randomly choosing mates, which has led to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The penguins are very isolated, which is preventing gene flow from affecting Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The recessive phenotype in…arrow_forwardIn the 1960s, a population of squirrels (Sciurus carolensis) was being studied in Alabama and the coat color of the squirrels was found to range from the more common gray color (dominant) to the less common red color (recessive). When they sampled an area, they found 536 gray squirrels and 64 red squirrels. Assume that the population is at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. 1A. Show your work to find the frequency of the homozygous recessive individuals.arrow_forward
- Human Biology (MindTap Course List)BiologyISBN:9781305112100Author:Cecie Starr, Beverly McMillanPublisher:Cengage LearningBiology (MindTap Course List)BiologyISBN:9781337392938Author:Eldra Solomon, Charles Martin, Diana W. Martin, Linda R. BergPublisher:Cengage Learning