You and a friend are studying a squirrel species in the wild. You have witnessed

Question

You and a friend are studying a squirrel species in the wild. You have witnessed a mutation occur that cause much thicker fur coats in the squirrels. You and you friend argue over whether or not thicker coats will increase "fitness" in the squirrels when in the wild. How could you somewhat settle this argument my making observations on the squirrel population after 50 years has gone by ? Imagine you can observe (including taking an dprocessing DNA samples if needed) the squirrel populatoin now and in 50 year (you have a time machine maybe) tie your expllanation into the definition "fitness" meaning to be successful at reproducing.

Explanation / Answer

So fitness depends on the environment. If the environment supports the mutation then in 50 years the squirrel with the thicker fur coats will have an increase. Since the squirrels with the lesser fur coats will die off because they are not supported by the environment. Fitness is also dependent on natural selection because if the squirrel with the thicker coat produces more babies, then they will begin to take over the space that the original squirrels were in. Especially if the environment is supporting the mutation. Hopefully this helps.

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