Wild turkeys are dramatically sexually dimorphic; domesticated turkeys are less

Question

Wild turkeys are dramatically sexually dimorphic; domesticated turkeys are less so. Suppose that wild female turkeys chose mates on the basis of expensive traits that indicate disease resistance and that artificial selection for rapid weight gain in domestic turkeys destroyed female choice.

a) Briefly describe the mechanism of selection in wild turkey populations. What would you predict about the evolution of disease resistance in domestic turkeys? If we observe that domestic turkeys are less resistant, does that necessarily mean that wild females had be choosing more-resistance males, or are other hypotheses equally plausible?

Explanation / Answer

In wild turkey populations female turkeys choose males with longer snoods. The longer snoods offer protection against parasitic infection. I would predict that in domestic populations where females have less mate choice disease resistance of offspring would be inferior to disease resistance of the wild turkeys. If the domestic turkeys are less disease resistant that does not necessarily mean that wild females had been selecting more resistant males. Other hypotheses could be equally plausible. Decreased disease resistant could be due to other factors, such as inferior living conditions and inferior food quality. Controlled experiments would need to be conducted to have a better idea about specific cause.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse W
• Subjects

---

---

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