1. What does it mean if we say that a population is not in Hardy-Weinberg equili
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Question
1. What does it mean if we say that a population is not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium? You need to make sure that you mention what this means for changes in successive generations and what may or may not cause those changes (i.e. you should mention the possible mechanisms of evolution). You may also be asked to calculate allele frequencies at two different time points in a population and conclude whether the population is evolving based on your data.
2. Why are protists considered a "trash bucket" taxon? Why are many scientists so interested in studying protists (make sure you can list between three and five specific groups in your answer, and some characteristic of that group)?
3. What are some of the characteristics of fungi that make them so efficient in their ecological role as decomposers? How does this also impact the role of some fungi in their mutualistic relationship with plants?
4. What are some of the obstacles that were present in the water-to-land transition for plants and animals? What structures do we see evolve in these different groups to deal with the differences between aquatic and terrestrial life styles? (this one could be split into two questions on an exam, one for plants and one for animals)
5. Why does it appear that cephalization goes along with bilateral symmetry in animals? Think about how body symmetry affects how an organism encounters their environment. You should be able to give examples of animals with and without bilateral symmetry in your answer.
6. If you are given a phylogenetic tree you should be able to give the number of monophyletic groups on the tree, indicate where some specific characteristics that evolved occurred on the tree, and you should be able to determine which groups are most closely related to each other (i.e. sister taxa versus non-sister taxa).
7. What is the difference between allopatric and sympatric speciation? When an original population is split into different components, what are some of the forces that lead to the formation of a new species? How do pre-zygotic and post-zygotic isolating mechanisms help to generate new species?
Explanation / Answer
1). The allele frequencies remain unaltered in a population if the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. But if a naturally occurring population is not in H-W equilibrium, it indicates that the assumptions of HIW equilibrium are violated. The possible mechanisms include non-random mating, migration and genetic drift.
Hardy and Weinberg mathematically proved that in a population, all dominant and recessive alleles comprise all alleles for that gene.
This was mathematically represented as p+ q = 1.0
Where,
p = frequency of dominant alleles
q = frequency of recessive alleles.
Hardy and Weinberg also described all the possible genotypes for a gene with two alleles. The binomial expansion representing this is, p2 + 2pq + q2 = 1.0
Where,
p2 = proportion of homozygous dominant individuals
q2 = proportion of homozygous recessive individuals
2pq = proportion of heterozygotes.
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