Jenna Mooneyham Friday October 11th 1:00-1:50

Anthropology 5 Problem Set # 1 Selection is a statistical, probabilistic process, not a deterministic process. Well see several implications of that in this course, and your understanding of the previous sentence will deepen considerably. For this problem set wed like you to help you understand that selection acts on the average value of a trait. Were going to consider two kinds of examples of this process. 1. As discussed in Module 2, the beaks of the Galapagos finches changed during the 1976-1977 drought; they became deeper (stouter). A. Draw a distribution (a bell curve) of finch beak depth before the drought. B. On the same page, right below the curve you just drew, draw a distribution of finch beak depth after the drought. C. What is different about the two distributions? The average beak depth is deeper after the drought; it is shifted to the right after the drought. D. How did that change come about? What happened to finches with different beak depths during the drought that produced the change? The change comes about by the pressure brought on by the drought. The finches whose beaks were not deep enough to crack open the tougher, larger seeds were less likely to survive. The ones with deeper beaks were naturally selected to survive and were more likely to produce offspring. E. Can you express that idea by describing selection as editing the distribution? Selection does not edit, rather filter the distribution because it chooses from already presented traits and does not create its own by mutations. The distribution is filtered such that the traits that fend the best given the environmental pressures are passed down through offspring. 2. Now lets consider another kind of example, one that was presented briefly in module 1. Remember that female song sparrows of average size tend to survive best. A. Draw a distribution of body size in female song sparrows. B. Using your editing language, how is selection acting on that distribution? Be clear about how the action of selection in this case is different from the way it operated on finch beaks during the drought. The female song sparrows whose size is average are more likely to survive in contrast to those who are above and below average size. The average size of the female song sparrow will remain roughly stable due to the environmental pressures remain the same; in contrast from the filtering of the Galapagos finches since the filter was a fluctuation of the environment. 3. What steps of Darwins six-step argument are exemplified by the finch beak studies, as discussed in module 2? The finches could theoretically reproduce exponentially given natural selection picking which traits to pass on to offspring to fit changing environmental factors, yet there will also be a stabilization of the population due to these environmental factors such as food and space acting on a populace of organisms; which exemplifies rules one and two of Darwins six-step argument. The finches exemplify step number three of the argument by the finches with shallower beaks failing to reproduce and dying off due to environmental pressures. Step number four is exemplified by the finches with deeper beaks reproducing and surviving, which also pairs with step number five of the offspring of the finches also having the allele for deeper beaks. Step six is exemplified in the finches by the deeper beaks becoming more and more common within the population in order to survive.

Jenna Mooneyham Friday October 11th 1:00-1:50

4. In what sense does the finch-beak research show that the theory of natural selection is a uniformitarian theory? Natural selection is a uniformitarian theory because it has gone through the some type of process throughout history. Such as in the finch-beak research, the finches with the favorable trait of a deeper beak were selected to survive and reproduce, whilst the ones with shallower beaks were filtered out and were not as likely to survive and reproduce. Those who are better adapted to environmental changes reproduce more and survive, even though the environmental pressures presented to a populace differ. 5. The vertebrate eye is a classic example of a complex adaptation. A. Why do critics of natural selection think that traits like the eye are a threat to the theory? Critics of natural selection use the eye as a way to discredit natural selection by stating that the eye is too complex to have come about by small adaptions since natural selection doesnt control how the genes mutate. B. What do evolutionists say in response? Evolutionists respond to this by stating that selection can build something as complicated as an eye by holding onto any trait that is useful in the present, which accumulate over time. C. What evidence do they offer? Evolutionists juxtapose a complex eye to a less developed eye of other organisms in the animal world and show how both pairs are connected, and through natural selection some organisms have more advantageous eyes than others. D. What idea was R.A. Fisher trying to convey with his microscope analogy? Fisher was trying to convey that random mutations that are filtered by natural selection can lead to advantageous traits that accumulate over time to produce complex features such as the eye. 6. You might be surprised to know that in approximately 97% of mammal species males do not stay with the females they fertilize and do not help those females raise their young. This frees the males to court and fertilize other females, potentially increasing their reproductive success. Species like humans and prairie voles (which you will learn more about in chapter 21 of your reader) are rare exceptions; male humans and prairie voles tend to exhibit pair-bonding behavior, staying with their mate and helping to rear their young. How might pair-bonding be adaptive for males even though they have to give up the opportunity to fertilize additional females? Using your editing language, how might selection be operating in this case? Pair-bonding might be adaptive for males since according to Darwin, individuals with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and reproduce while still keeping a relatively stable number or organisms, therefore quality is sought after rather than quantity. Natural selection acts in this way, only selecting the best adapted organisms carrying the best traits for the given pressures acting on the populace.