Suppose that as long bills were evolving in hummingbirds, bill length was contro

Question

Suppose that as long bills were evolving in hummingbirds, bill length was controlled by a single gene with two alleles, S and L, such that SS individuals had short bills and LL individuals had long bills. Further, suppose that S was dominant to L so that SL individuals had short bills just like SS individuals. Since long bills allowed hummingbirds to obtain more food, hummingbirds with long bills survived best and produced, on average, 2 surviving offspring during their lives, while individuals with short bills produced, on average, 0.75 surviving offspring during their lives.

a) What is the relative fitness of each of the three genotypes (SS, SL, LL)?

b) Suppose that in a virtually infinite population of hummingbirds that mate randomly with regard to bill length, do not experience mutation, and do not move among populations, the frequency of the L allele in the gametes at the start of a generation is 0.3. What will be the frequency of the LL genotype in the zygotes produced by union of these gametes?

c) Determine the frequency of the LL genotype in the surviving adults that develop from the zygote population.

Explanation / Answer

a   3:3:8

Relative fitness will be a ratio

b. 0.09

0.3×0.3 will get us 0.09 for frequency of LL genotype

c. 0.0675

0.09×0.75 gives us frequency of LL genotype

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse S
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.