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An adaptation or adaptive trait is a trait/characteristic that has evolved in a population of organisms which provides a functional advantage. Adaptations increase the biological fitness of a population. Fitness is defined as the ability to survive and pass genes on to subsequent generations. For the purposes of this assignment, you are to choose an adaptive trait common to more than one species. For example, birds and bats both have wings. Write a 2-3 page (500 â 750 words, 12 point font) paper including the following elements. Be sure to compose your work with your own words. Do not copy and paste from any source. Describe what makes this trait an adaptation. Briefly describe how the trait evolved; e.g., mutation, genetic drift, migration and/or natural selection. Be sure to support your answer with evidence. What is the difference between homologous and analogous traits? How does your trait of choice fit either of these descriptions? What is convergent and divergent evolution? Describe whether the trait is a result of convergent or divergent evolution. Use in-text citation and provide source references for at least 3 sources. The textbook can be one source. When citing articles or other types of documents, follow standard guidelines as introduced on "Citing references in scientific research papers".

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Casey DurganLv2

25 Aug 2019

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Question 5

Which of the following is FALSE:

Natural selection has foresight, and can mold organisms in accordance with environments in the far future. This is why organisms have a good "fit" to their environments long after they have arisen through speciation.

Selection is an undirected process that can only ever work with the materials at hand.

Human beings have foresight because they possess brains that can think about possible outcomes and the consequences of actions. This is different to a process like natural selection.

The fact that natural selection has no foresight does not mean that it is incapable of producing beings that have foresight.

Question 6

The wings of bats, birds and flying insects are examples of:

Convergently evolved traits (at least in terms of their basic functionality).

Homologous traits.

Plesiomorphies.

None of the above.

Question 7

The effect of a trait depends on the environment because:

Organisms decide to change their behavior every so often to evade predators.

It is only ever in the context of an environment that these traits can exist, and whether they assist the organism or inhibit it will depend on the particularities of that environment in which it must interact.

Sexual selection will not tolerate wasteful and extravagant displays.

The environment is changing too fast for the organism to keep up with in terms of its conscious appreciation of it, so it must rely on its traits to do the work.

Question 8

Which of the following is TRUE:

Natural selection is not random; mutation is random; speciation is necessarily driven by natural selection.

Natural selection is not random; mutation is random; speciation is not necessarily driven by natural selection.

Natural selection is random; drift is random; speciation is not necessarily driven by natural selection.

Natural selection is not random; mutation is random; speciation must occur through the evolution of pre-zygotic barriers to mating.

Question 9

Heritability is:

The same as inheritance.

Another way of stating the degree to which a trait is genetic (for example, you could say that the color of your skin is "80 percent genetic and 20 percent environmental")

The proportion of variance of a trait in a population that is attributable to genetic variance in that population.

Present in populations, but not necessary for evolution by natural selection.

jadelocust741

Dieting is common in our society and everyone wants a piece of the action. So many diets are available to choose from if someone wants to change their health; e.g., lose weight. Often times, diets are promoted with claims of great success. For the purposes of this assignment, you are to choose a particular diet and analyze it in terms of scientific evidence, or lack thereof. Then, you are to design a controlled experiment to test a hypothesis based on this diet. The experiment must include multiple individuals within a control and experimental group. You must specify how you will measure the outcome of the experiment identifying both the independent and dependent variables.

You must describe the potential outcomes of the experiment in terms of supporting the hypothesis. Write a 2-3 page (500 â 750 words, 12 point font) paper including the following elements. Be sure to compose your work with your own words. Do not copy and paste from any source.

*Describe the basic nature of the diet including the reasoning for how it works.

*Analyze the diet for any scientific evidence to support its effectiveness.

*Design a controlled experiment to test the effectiveness of the diet.

*What is convergent and divergent evolution? Describe whether the trait is a result of convergent or divergent evolution.

*Use in-text citation and provide source references for at least 3 sources. The textbook can be one source. When citing articles or other types of documents, follow standard guidelines as introduced on "Citing references in scientific research papers".

1.. Polymorphisms for a given trait are relatively common in most species. Discuss the possible advantages or polymorphisms in terms of evolutionary fitness. Be sure to relate your discussion to a specific example. It is also possible that organisms showing more heterozygosity may actually be less fit. Describe one such possible scenario.

2. In the peppered moth (Biston betularia), black individuals may be either homozygous (A1A1) or heterozygous(A1A2), whereas the pale gray moths are homozygous (A2A2). Suppose that in a sample of 250 moths from one locality, 108 are black, and 142 are gray.

3. Retrace the history of primate evolution from early primates to monkeys, apes and hominins. When did some ofthe significant divergences occur (such as between the prosimians and the monkeys or between the chimps and hominins)? What was happening with the continents and the major climatic conditions during these times?What are the major species (including the extinct species) along the human lineage after the split with the chimps and bonobos? Where did many of these events occur on the globe and when?

4. Spencer Wells described his study how the genetic markers in humans are being used to infer the historical geographical distribution of humans and the dispersal of our ancestors. Explain how the genetic markers on our DNA (from blood samples) helps us understand that history. What are the techniques he is using? What is the nature of the evidence? What are the major conclusions about the journey of our ancestors out of Africa?What were the major migrations of humans to all the other continents? Approximately when did each migration occur and what were the major paths? How does the evidence support these conclusions? What Supporting evidence besides the DNA evidence is being used to support these conclusions?

5. Provide an adaptive and a non adaptive hypothesis for the evolutionary loss of useless organs, such as eyes in many cave-dwelling animals. How might these hypotheses be tested?

6. Directional selection is one of the models of natural selection. Describe this type of selection in terms of the frequencies of advantageous alleles over time. What is the trend over time? What is the eventual outcome for this allele as long as no other evolutionary factors intervene? Describe at least one good example of directional selection.

7. Consider the first copy of an allele for insecticide resistance that arises by mutation in a population of insects exposed to an insecticide. Is this mutation an adaptation? If, after some generations, we find that most of the population is resistant, is the resistance an adaptation? If we discover genetic variation for insecticide resistance in a population that has had no experience of insecticides, is that variation an adaptation? If an insect population is polymorphic for two alleles, each of which confers resistance against one of two pesticides that are alternately applied, is that variation an adaptation? Or is each of the two resistance traits an adaptation?Explain your reasoning thoroughly.

8. Suppose that a mutation in a species of annual plant increases allocation to chemical defenses against herbivores, but decreases production of flowers and seeds (i.e., there is an allocation trade-off). What would you have to measure in a field study in order to predict whether or not the frequency of the mutation will increase?

9. In many socially monogamous species of parrots and other birds, both sexes are brilliantly colored or highly ornamented. Is sexual selection likely to be responsible for the coloration and ornaments of both sexes? How can there be sexual selection in pair-bonding species with a 1:1 sex ratio, since every individual presumably obtains a mate? Which of the models of sexual selection described in the book might account for these species characteristics?

10. Kin selection explains why organisms may provide benefits to relatives. Is there a conflict between the principle of kin selection and the evolution of siblicide and abortion?

11.Many species of albatrosses and other seabirds nest in colonies on islands. The adult search for food at sea,sometimes over great distances. Some ecologists who study seabirds turn to their favorite topic of discussion in a bar one evening, and one says, âI can imagine an albatross genotype that destroys the eggs of nestlings of its colony mates when the parents are away foraging, and leaves them dead without eating them. Do you think such a behavior would evolve?â One of his companions says, âYes, because it would make more food available for the albatross and its offspring.â Another says, âNo, because it would threaten the survival of the population.â The fourth says, âYouâre both wrong. I have a different explanation for why albatrosses donât kill othersâ chicks.â What is the fourth ecologistâs explanation, and why does she think her companions are wrong?

12. The concept of a species is fundamental to understanding biology, yet there may not be one definition that fits all âtypesâ of organisms (e.g. animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, slime mold, lichens, etc.). Discuss several of the definitions of a species as presented in class and present your own definition for a species. Compare the strengths and weaknesses of each definition. Ernst Mayr is strong proponent of the biological species concept.How does he justify his position? Do you agree or disagree? If we employ the biological species concept, when did species first exist? What were organisms before then, if not species? What might the consequences of the emergence of species be for processes of adaptation and diversification? Be sure to explain your reasoning thoroughly.

13. The process of speciation ultimately involves the development of reproductive isolation between two related populations of organisms. Describe the various types of both prezygotic and postzygotic reproductive isolation and give an example of each.

14. Respond to the following quote from the character named Mr. Spock in âStar Trekâ:âA truly successful parasite is commensal, living in amity with its host, or even giving it positive advantages, as for instance, the protozoans who live in the digestive system of your termites and digest for them the wood they eat. A parasite that regularly and inevitably kills its host cannot survive long, in the evolutionary sense, unless it multiplies with tremendous rapidity ... it is not pro-survival.âFrom what you have learned in this course, do you agree or disagree with Spock? How can you apply your reasoning to the relative âfitnessâ of HIV which causes AIDS, the Ebola virus which causes hemorrhagic fever,fleas which suck blood from dogs, or the prokaryotic ancestors of mitochondria and chloroplasts?

15. In many species of birds and mammals, clutch size is larger in populations at high latitudes than in population sat low latitudes. Species of lizards and snakes at high latitudes often have smaller clutches, however, and are more frequently viviparous (bear live young rather than laying eggs), than low-latitude species. What selective factors might be responsible for these patterns? Explain your reasoning.

16. The popular media often presents evolution as being a predictable process with a definite goal. For instance, in one âStar Trek: Voyagerâ episode, the captain instructs the shipâs computer to extrapolate the âprobable courseâ of evolution of hadrosaurs (a bipedal dinosaur), if hadrosaurs had been removed from Earth before the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) Extinction and allowed to evolve on another planet. What information about the hadrosaursâ new environment would have been useful in developing the best possible prediction? Given what you know on genetic drift and selective agents, is it possible to accurately predict the long-term course of evolution?

17. Young children often develop strong food preferences that sometimes seem bizarre to their parents --- such as wanting to eat only a certain food prepared in a familiar way, or being reluctant to each new foods or foods with strong or bitter tastes (like coffee and some vegetables). Develop an evolutionary explanation for such preferences. What evidence would you gather to investigate your hypothesis and rule out alternative explanations?

18. Many organisms, such as mammals, only reproduce by sexual means. Other organisms are exclusively asexual,such as many of the bacteria and fungi. And still others have ways of propagating by both sexual and asexualmeans. Discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of each mode of reproduction. Why arenât all organisms sexual critters? Why are many asexual organisms still very successful as evidenced by the pure abundance and diversity? What is the adaptive significance of having different genders (e.g. male and female)?In other words, why sex?

19. How might differential expression and regulation by Hox genes contribute to mosaic evolution in which different segments of an animal body plan evolve different morphology?

20. Development of a morphological structure involves many different types of gene products, including transcription factors, signaling proteins, and âeffectorâ genes such as enzymes. When a morphological change occurs in a single mutational step, which of these types might be more or less likely to be involved? Within a gene, would such single-step events be more likely to involve coding or non-coding sequences, and what characteristics of the geneâs function might affect this likelihood?

21. Since 2001, the complete DNA sequences of the genomes of many people have been determined. If humans,along with other forms of life, have evolved from a common ancestor, what evidence of this would be expected in the human genome? In what ways might the history and processes of evolution help us interpret and make sense of the human genome sequence data?

22. Paleontologists and some biologists commonly infer function, and even behavior, from anatomical details.Skeletal features, for example, are often used to infer that an extinct mammal (such as an early hominid) was highly, somewhat, or not at all arboreal. This inference assumes a good fit of form to function (i.e., optimal form). Can this assumption be justified?

23. Stephen Jay Gould (1989) and others have argued that the evolution of self-conscious, intelligent species (i.e.humans) was historically contingent: it would not have occurred had any of a great many historical events been different. The philosopher Daniel Dennett (1995) and others have disagreed, arguing that convergent evolution is so common that if humans had not evolved, some other lineage would probably have given rise to a species with similar mental abilities. What do you think, and why? If Gouldâs position is right, what are its philosophical implications, if any?

24. Explain how Intelligent Design was determined as a religious view rather than a scientific view in the court casein Dover, PA. Should a scientific explanation of evolution be included in a science curriculum in K-12 schools?How is science and religion different in how they seek answers to questions? How is term "theory" used differently in science than in everyday English use? What is biological evolution? What evidence is used to support the scientific explanation of evolution? Is it possible to accept scientific explanations without rejecting religious faith?

25. Discuss how a creationist versus an evolutionary biologist might explain some human characteristics and the implications of their differences. Sample characteristics: eyes; wisdom teeth; individually unique friction ridges(fingerprints); five digits rather than some other number; susceptibility to infections; fever when infected;variation in sexual orientation; limited life span.