Plethodon salamanders in the Hocking Hills region occur in one of two color morp
ID: 142747 • Letter: P
Question
Plethodon salamanders in the Hocking Hills region occur in one of two color morphs that are under the genetic control of a single locus. Salamanders with yellow strips are more visible to predators, and represent roughly 1% of the salamander population. An ecologist estimated that the yellow-striped morphs survive to reproductive age at a rate of approximately 0.95 that of the other salamanders. What qualitative prediction could you make about how the frequency of the allele that contributes to the yellow stripe should change over time as a result of natural selection? Should it increase or decrease
What is the average fitness (wbar) of this population?
What is a quantitative prediction for the frequency of the allele that contributes to yellow stripes in the homozygous recessive genotype after a single generation of natural selection (round to 2 decimal places)?
Explanation / Answer
The yellow striped morphs represents 1% population which means it could be recessive.
Survival rate is higher than other groups but reproductive rate is lower as they constitute only 1% of the total salamander population. Therefore their average fitness could be near 1% which is the most fit among all.
Although the salamanders are dying due to natural selection because they get easily picked up by predators they produce more individuals in comparison to other genotype because of their fitness. So they should increase in number with time