org. evolution - quiz 5 - Altruism, Selfish genes, and Group selection

Mammals display uniparental inheritance of cytoplasmic organelles, with offspring only receiving mitochondria from their mothers. In the alga Chalmydomonas, which practices biparental inheritance of cytoplasmic organelles, what becomes of the chloroplasts in the offspring?

 

-The chloroplasts of the mother's cells commit suicide, leaving only the father's behind.

-The chloroplasts of the father's cells commit suicide, leaving only the mother's behind.

-The offspring lives on with half of its chroloplasts derived from each parent.

-The maternal and paternal chloroplasts battle until only one kind remains.

-The maternal and paternal chloroplasts battle until only one kind remains.

What is the coefficient of relatedness between a grandfather and his grandson?

 -1

-0.75

-0.5

-0.25

-0.25

When one organism makes a sacrifice to benefit another, it is called 

 

-Altruism

-Spite

-Mutual benefit

-Inclusive fitness

-Group selection

-Altruism

Using reprogramming factors, scientists can now change adult differentiate cells into other kinds of cells. What would most likely happen if scientists were able to produce eggs from a female with sperm cells produced from that same female?  

 

-The offspring would grow larger than normal

-The offspring would grow smaller than normal.

-There should be no change in average offspring size.

-The offspring would grow smaller than normal.

Imagine a bird population where mother birds will feed the young in other mothers' nests when they cry for food. The cost to the actor is loss of grandchild on average, and the benefit to the recipient nests' mother is a gain of 0.5 grandchildren on average. Is this a stable altruistic strategy?

 

-Yes

-No

-No

Which estimate is most likely to be an accurate measure of the percentage of the human genome that is made up of selfish DNA?

 

-1%

-25%

-50%

-80%

-99%

-50%

98% of the Y chromosome of the mouse is made up of repeats of the same few genes with unknown functions that are only expressed in the testes. Knockouts of these genes resulted in slightly more females than males being born, even though normally female mice produce an equal ratio of male and female offspring. Why did those Y chromosome repeated genes likely evolve to be common?

 

-They help the mice to produce more sperm cells.

-They helped to get the Y chromosome into mature sperm cells.

-They code for sex hormones.

-They stop sperm from being overproduced.

-They helped to get the Y chromosome into mature sperm cells.

If a behavior results in the death of the actor in 40% of occasions, Hamilton's rule would predict that it would evolve to occur when that behavior saves the lives of which relative?

I. One offspring

II. One sibling

III. One cousin

 

-I only

-II only

-III only

-I and II only

-All of the above

-I and II only

When cooperators are able to segregate together...

 

-cooperation is more likely to be favored evolutionarily.

-cooperation is less likely to be favored evolutionarily.

-the evolutionary benefit of cooperation is the same as if they cooperators were unable to segregate together.

-cooperation is more likely to be favored evolutionarily.

Which of the following has a coefficient of relatedness of 0.25?

 

-A brother to his brother

-A sister to her brother

-An uncle to his nephew

-A father to his daughter

-An uncle to his nephew

According to Hamilton's rule, the success of altruistic behavior hinges on the ability to distinguish kin from unrelated individuals. Hamilton proposed that an allele that produces a distinctive trait (i.e., the greenbeard effect), along with altruistic behavior directed at the bearers of this trait, could drive such an altruistic allele to high frequencies in a population. Has such a gene been discovered?

 

-Yes

 -No

-Yes

Imagine two populations of grasses, where the LINEs and SINEs in the cells of one population reproduce at an extremely high rate. In the second population, a mutation has occurred in a separate gene causing it to interfere with the replication of LINEs and SINEs. If all else is equal, what should we most likely expect to occur with our two populations of grass?

 

-Grass population 1 should be more successful in its environment.

-Grass population 2 should be more successful in its environment.

-The two populations should be equally successful in their environment.

-Grass population 2 should be more successful in its environment.

Imagine a species of monkey that travels in pairs. When a monkey sees a predator, it can make an alarm call to warn its partner. The partner then receives the benefit of knowing the predator is near, but the monkey that makes the call incurs a cost as the call can also draw the attention of the predator. The relative fitnesses of the different options are below:

• A monkey in a pair where the other monkey makes an alarm call: 20

• A monkey that makes an alarm call: 1

• A monkey in a pair where neither makes an alarm call: 15

Assuming no kin relationship within the pairs, is reciprocal cooperation in making alarm calls likely to represent an evolutionarily stable state according to game theory?

 

-Yes

-No

-No

In the jacana species of bird, the males build nests on the limited number of very small floating islands of vegetation within Panamanian rivers and incubate the eggs. The only contribution of the females is to lay a new clutch of eggs into the male's nest once the offspring from the previous clutch of eggs has fledged. As a result, the females can lay a clutch of eggs every 24 days, but the males can only fertilize a new clutch every 78 days. From this information, what should we predict to find in the jacana birds?

 

-The females possess weapons.

-The males possess weapons.

-The males are brightly colored.

-The females will have fewer mates than the males.

-The females possess weapons.

An altruistic act has a cost of 1 to the actor and benefit of 2 to the recipient. If the frequency of the altruist is 0.5 in a population in this generation and all interactions are random, what should the frequency of altruists be in the next generation?

 

-<0.5

->0.5

-0.5

-<0.5

The benefit of an altruist's behavior is 4, and altruists make up 50% of the population. Assuming interactions are random, what should be the approximate average benefit to a selfish individual in the population?

 

-1

-2

-4

-8

-2

There are two remote nearly identical desert islands within each a new populations of avocado tree is started. The females in each population produce 50 avocados per generation. Population 1 on island 1 produces 25 males and 25 females on average. Population 2 on island 2 produces 10 males and 40 females on average. Assuming these sex ratios are 100% heritable and all else is equal, which population should come to cover the island the fastest?

 

-Pop. 1

-Pop. 2

-They should come to cover the island at the same rate.

-Pop. 2