Question

If you select against intermediate wing length in a population of pigeons how would you expect that to change the degree to which wing length is governed by genetics? Explain your answer

Answer 1

The evolutionary history of some groups of related organisms indicates a change from large to smaller organisms over a period of time. In some other groups the trend followed was to increase the small size , intermediate size to large size over a period of time. This may be due to that the organisms are mainly influenced by environment to acquire physical, physiological or behavioral characters. Size is the physical character and it is only one factor among many. The increase or decrease in the size mainly due to the organism to fit better in its environment than the other members of the species.

This character fit according to environmental change may survive and produce fertile offspring to inherit the character. In some species the large size was an advantage and the character inherited successfully. In some other species intermediate or smaller size might have gained more benefits and hence may produce fertile offspring too. Thus, acquiring the characters that fit in to environment occurs through the process of natural selection.