Question

6) We discussed the technical parameter, genetic relatedness, in detail, including its specific meaning and its causal impact in the context of the evolution of social behavior. Which of the following is (are) a true statement about genetic relatedness?

a. Genetic relatedness describes the statistical probability that an individual piece of design information in one individual is an exact copy of a piece in a second animal by virtue of having been inherited from a very recent common ancestor.

b. Genetic relatedness describes the statistical probability that cooperative help between two animals will enhance the replication of the specific pieces of information building each animal.

c. Genetic relatedness describes the statistical parameter that animals will evolve to "use" in assessing the cost/benefit of cooperation and conflict with conspecifics where conflicts of interest are involved.

d. all of the above e. a. and b.

7) We surveyed the social breeding behavior of the African bee-eater on videotape. This survey displayed several conspicuous phenomena. On the one hand, older siblings (from a previous breeding year) actively helped to feed their newly hatched young chick siblings, even at the costs of these older siblings failing to produce chicks of their own. On the other hand, in contrast, these three newly hatched chicks competed violently with one another, ultimately resulting in two of the chicks perishing. Which of the following is (are) a true statement about these strongly contrasting social relationships between different siblings?

a. The genetic costs to one young chick of succumbing to competition from a 50% related second chick are greater than the benefits from allowing the second chick to survive at the first chick's expense.

b. The older chicks have already demonstrated their fitness by survival; however, for the good of the bee-eater species, it is essential that the newly hatched chicks compete to demonstrate who is fitter.

c. The genetic costs to older siblings of feeding their 50% related younger siblings are substantially outweighed by the genetic replication benefit to the older siblings through the survival and reproduction of the younger siblings.

d. all of the above

e. a. and c. f. b. and c.

8) We examined the effects (phenotype) of the misexpression of the Antennapedia gene (genotype) in Drosophila development. This gene is a member of an ancient gene family that humans also have and that does the same things in us. Which of the following is the most accurate and complete description of the central lesson we extracted from this examination? a. Animal genomes can have huge numbers of genes; in order to understand the control and evolution of the basic body plan it is vital to understand the details of all 10-20,000 genes in the genome and how they interact combinatorially.

b. Animal genomes can have huge numbers of genes; however, only a very small number of regulators (like Antennapedia) interact combinatorially to control the body plan with remarkable informational simplicity.

c. Animal genomes can have huge numbers of genes; in order to understand the control and evolution of the basic body plan it is vital to understand the details of all 10-20,000 genes in the genome and how they act independently of one another.

d. Animal genomes can have huge numbers of genes; however, only a very small number of regulators (like Antennapedia) each act independently of all other regulators to control the body plan with remarkable informational simplicity.

9) Which of the following is (are) an example of a variable that is inevitably highly predictive about the details of the anatomy and behavior of any newly evolved animal we encounter in the world today (including ourselves)?

a. The anatomy and behavior of that animal's immediate ancestors.

b. The details of the local environment in which the animal has evolved to live.

c. The details of the anatomy of unrelated animals living on other continents.

d. all of the above e. a. and b.

10) In TOPIC 5, we began adding much more detail to our understanding of the "universal non-kin conflict of interest problem." Which of the following is the most accurate and complete picture of the causal foundation of this problem?

a. Animals inherently, consciously know they have conflicting interests with others because they are genetically different from other individual conspecifics.

b. Natural selection inevitably acts on animal populations to shape individuals to behave as if they have conflicting interests with non-kin conspecifics.

c. Animals inherently, consciously know they have conflicting interests because this behavior pattern was learned (for unknown reasons) in the ancient ancestor of all animals and culturally transmitted.

d. Natural selection inevitably acts on animal populations to shape individuals to behave as if they have conflicting interests with all conspecifics, including close kin.

Answer 1