Basic information: Scientists went out and sampled individuals from the populati

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Basic information: Scientists went out and sampled individuals from the populations. Population size can be very difficult to estimate, so scientists often assume all populations are approximately the same size (as we are doing here). When they directly sampled one of the populations, they found that there are approximately 30 breeding females and 20 breeding males (males have a higher mortality rate than females) in the populations (remember that we are assuming that all populations exhibit the same patterns). Also the scientists were able to use capture/recapture methods to determine that the proportion of migrants (migration rate: m) in any given population per generation is 0.01. Scientists assume that migration is equal among all the populations (this might be somewhat unrealistic since migration might be more difficult among populations that are separated a longer distance, but for the purposes of this assignment we will assume all migration is equal). When they actively looked at the difference in survival among the different phenotypes they found that survival of the agouti phenotype was approximately 63%. The survival of the black-backed phenotype was approximately 62.8% and survival of the melanistic phenotype was approximately 62.6%.

1. How genetically differentiated are the populations? (For reference of comparison, a value of 0.3 or larger would be considered very differentiated, a value close to 0 would be not differentiated). (3 points)

2. What do these results suggest regarding gene flow among the populations? Given only these results, do you suspect that the alleles are fixed due to selection or drift? Why (this is just a guess, but you must justify your answer) ? (2 points)

3. In order to follow up with the gene flow analysis, you decide to directly measure selection on the fur color by using the survival estimates relating fur coloration. What is selection on the different phenotypes? Given this new information, and using a quantitative explanation, is drift or selection responsible for fixing the allele frequencies? (hint: you will need to use an equation that relates selection and drift, and you will need to do it for ALL 3 alleles) (3 points)

4. The melanistic phenotype has the lowest fitness of the 3 phenotypes, yet it still exists in relatively high proportion in the various populations. Why? (1 point)

5. The Rio Negro tuco-tuco has both fragmented populations and small population sizes. How do these interact to create issues for allele fixation? Why might this be an issue for conservation purposes? (1 point)

Explanation / Answer

1.) 1. Population can be genetically verified depending on the DNA alleles produced from each individual.

2. Individuals are categorized and sub divided based on the alleles that produce the organis.

3. So, the genetically verified individual can be compressed of genes, their DNA, alleles etc.to be determined.

2.) The results are not same through the entire population of dufferent genes.

As a result, the genes of the population varies and can be drift due to their imbalance in their genic development.

4.) Though the melanistic phenotype has lowest fitness, but it is high in proportion in the various population due to yhe genic development of this phenotype in the individuals.

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