Question

Please help and explain

Biological fitness is best defined as A) a heritable trait that increases the match of an individual to its environment. B) similar reproductive success among individuals in a population. C) variability in the population for a trait that increases survival. D) the ability of an individual to produce offspring that survive and reproduce, relative to other individuals in the population. E) competition among individuals for resources that allow them to have more offspring Phylogenetic trees constructed from evidence from molecular systematics are based on similarities in A) habitat and lifestyle choices B) the pattern of embryological development C) mutations to homologous genes D) morphology E) biochemical pathways -) If you were using cladistics to build a phylogenetic tree of cats, which of the following would be the best outgroup? A) tiger B) domestic cat C) leopard D) wolf E) lion 2 1D Which of the following is TRUE of all horizontally oriented phylogenetic trees, where time advances to the right? A) The more branch points there are, the fewer taxa are likely to be represented. B) The fewer branch points that occur between two taxa, the more divergent their DNA sequences should be. C) The common ancestor represented by a branch point farther right existed more recently in time than the common ancestors represented at branch points located farther to the left. D) Organisms represented at the base of such trees are descendants of those represented at higher levels. E) Each branch point represents a point in absolute time. Some molecular data place the giant panda in the bear family (Ursidae) but place the lesser panda in the raccoon family (Procyonidae). If the molecular data best reflect the evolutionary history of these two groups, then the morphological similarities of these two species is most likely due to A) the inheritance of acquired characteristics B) possession of shared ancestral characters C possession of homoplasic (convergent) traits D) inheritance of shared derived characters E) sexual selection

Answer 1

1) D) The ability of an individual to produce offspring that survive and reproduce relative to other individuals in the population.

2) C) Mutation to homologues genes. ( A diagram of tree which shows the evolutionary relationship among organisams is phylogenetic tree. A gene which is inherited by a common ancestor in two species is homologues gene)

3) D) wolf

A phylogenetic tree is a diagrammatic representation in which the primitive living species are compared with the modern organisams on the basis of morphological ad well as genetic similarities and differences hence they are separated into distinct groups.

All the given organisams in the options ( wolf, domestic cat , lion and leopard) belong to the vertebrata phyllum. Among the options given all the organisams except wolf the other organisams are morphologically close to one other. Thus for constructing a phylogenetic tree for these organisams, wolf will be an out group. The other organisams will be the descendent belonging to the same group.

4)C) The common ancestor represented by a branch point farther right existed more recently in time than the common ancestors represented at branch points located farther to the left.

5)C) possition of homoplasic ( convergent) traits.

One relies pretty heavily on molecular data to tell as the true relationship between what appear to be closely related species. If the DNA suggests they are not closely related then the similarities are most likely due to convergent evolution or homoplasic traits .