Question

Background:

Sexual selection can favor extreme versions of certain traits. The good genes hypothesis proposes that females choose to mate with males that have high survivorship. But how can the female measure the male's survival skills? The good genes hypothesis proposes that male secondary sexual characteristics advertise his genetic quality. Extravagant ornamentation equals high survivorship.

Male barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) have longer tail feathers than females and the length of male tail feathers varies in a population. Anders Moller wanted to know if the father's tail length was related to survivorship of his offspring. First, he needed to know the range of tail lengths among males.

Data:

Tail Length (mm) | Frequency 97 1 98 99 100 101 4 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 1 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 1

Draw a graph that shows the distribution of tail length in a population of male barn swallows.

Answer 1

The graph is plotted below:

Frequency 100 101 102 103 104 105 107 Tail length (cm) 118 119 120 121 123 124 125 Frequency