Please do not answer unless you plan on answering all parts of the question. Thank you very much. I really appreciate your help.
1a. (2 pts) Pandas use their thumb to strip off bamboo leaves, a main staple of their diet. A panda would be much better off with a human thumb, which is much more versatile than the pandaâs. Why then does the panda have an inferior thumb?
b. (2 pts) Why do some species of blind cave-dwelling fish have eyes? A million years into the future, do you expect these blind cave fish still have eyes? Why or why not?
c. (2 pts) In some fictional breeds of dog, tail length is correlated with eye color (long tailed animals typically have brown eyes; short tailed one have black eyes). I notice in feral populations of these dogs and individuals tend to mate assortatively on the basis tail length. If I examine the genetic underpinnings of eye color, should I expect to find this variation to be in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium?
d. (2 pts) Why is blending inheritance antithetical to the theory of natural selection?
e. (2 pts) Mendelian traits are discrete, discontinuous, but most of the variation â think, human height â we see in nature is continuous. How is it possible to reconcile these two observations?
f. (3 pts) In most cases in which the genetic basis of industrial melanism has been analyzed, the melanic colour pattern has been found to be due to a single dominant allele. In one study of a polluted area around Birmingham, UK, Kettlewell observed a frequency of 87% melanic Biston betularia. Assume that the population is now in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium and estimate the frequency of the dominant allele leading to melanism in this population, and the proportion of melanics that are heterozygous.
g. (2 pts) As populations crash in response to hunting and environmental degradation, endangered species are in danger of inbreeding. Explain why this is a problem.
Please do not answer unless you plan on answering all parts of the question. Thank you very much. I really appreciate your help.
1a. (2 pts) Pandas use their thumb to strip off bamboo leaves, a main staple of their diet. A panda would be much better off with a human thumb, which is much more versatile than the pandaâs. Why then does the panda have an inferior thumb?
b. (2 pts) Why do some species of blind cave-dwelling fish have eyes? A million years into the future, do you expect these blind cave fish still have eyes? Why or why not?
c. (2 pts) In some fictional breeds of dog, tail length is correlated with eye color (long tailed animals typically have brown eyes; short tailed one have black eyes). I notice in feral populations of these dogs and individuals tend to mate assortatively on the basis tail length. If I examine the genetic underpinnings of eye color, should I expect to find this variation to be in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium?
d. (2 pts) Why is blending inheritance antithetical to the theory of natural selection?
e. (2 pts) Mendelian traits are discrete, discontinuous, but most of the variation â think, human height â we see in nature is continuous. How is it possible to reconcile these two observations?
f. (3 pts) In most cases in which the genetic basis of industrial melanism has been analyzed, the melanic colour pattern has been found to be due to a single dominant allele. In one study of a polluted area around Birmingham, UK, Kettlewell observed a frequency of 87% melanic Biston betularia. Assume that the population is now in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium and estimate the frequency of the dominant allele leading to melanism in this population, and the proportion of melanics that are heterozygous.
g. (2 pts) As populations crash in response to hunting and environmental degradation, endangered species are in danger of inbreeding. Explain why this is a problem.
