Question

or behave similarly. Because of thi L}) other. Later, you find out that they actually ar ught. Explain how this can be. What is this process called? сар 34. (5 points) Fitness is a term often used by biologists to explain the evolutionary success of certain organisms. Below are descriptions of four fictional female lizards of the same species living on a small island. Body length Offspring surviving to adulthood Age at death Comments Lizard A 20 cm Lizard B 12 cm 26 Lizard C 10 cm 19 L 6 years 6 years Lizard A is very Lizard B has healthy, strong, mated with and clever || many lizards izard D 15 cm 28 Which lizard would a biologist consider the be the most “fit” in an evolutionary sense? Completely explain your answer. Remember to consider fitness over the long term. I 22 5 years Lizards C is dark-colored and very quick 4 years Lizard D has the largest territory

Answer 1

Fitness can be boiled down to reproductive success, how many descendants that survive to reproductive age are left behind by a species.

If we take this definition the fittest lizard would be lizard C who left behind 28 viable offspring, which means that in term each of them could have 28 descendants of their own, growing the population at a faster pace than the other lizards.

this is because, despite the characteristics of the other lizards, lizard C is the one who is having the most reproductive success and if this keeps on it would become the dominant population and perpetuate it gens through the island.