1. A) Explain how changes in the environment drive evolutionary change. B) Provide and explain an example
2. A) Explain how the Hardy-Weinberg equation allows us to find evidence of evolution. B) Could processes other than Natural Selection result in deviation from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium? List and explain each one: C) define what the process is and D) the effect it has on the allele frequency.
3. A gene that is responsible for multiple traits (pleiotropy), for example the same allele causes sickle-cell anemia and provides resistance to malaria. Would a gene that controls these two traits respond equally to natural selection favoring malaria resistance as a non-pleitropic gene that only controls malaria resistance? Explain your answer.
4. A) Explain how lack of genetic variation limits evolution and provide an example. B) Explain how epistasis limits evolution and provide an example
Questions 5-6 are based on the following:
Let’s say you are studying a population of Japanese four o’clock plants. In these plants, the allele for red color flower shows incomplete dominance over the allele for white flowers. This is very convenient for this experiment because you can distinguish the heterozygous (pink flowers) from the homozygous dominant (red flowers). For your experiment, you produced a large number of plants, 25% had red flowers, 25% had white flowers and 50% had pink flowers. You transplanted them into different habitats and left some in the lab (using the same proportions in all the habitats). You waited a few years, while plants reproduce for a few generations and then you go back and resample the populations you’ve transplanted.
5. In the lab you ensured that all individuals receive all requirements to grow and reproduce and mate randomly. A) What do you expect the distribution of the phenotypes after a few generations breeding in the lab? B) Is the lab population in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium? Yes/No, explain
6. In habitat A, you find that you only have red flowering plants and white flowering plants but there are no pink flowering plants. A) Is the population in habitat A in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium? Yes/No, explain. B) Which one(s) of the five agents of evolutionary change could be responsible for these results? Explain. C) What type(s) of selection (stabilizing, disruptive, directional, oscillating, etc...) could be responsible for the results in habitat A? Explain
