Question

Why would natural selection not minimize costs (in the form of symptoms) of evolved defenses? (choose all that apply)

Question options:

	Minimizing costs increases the risk of failing to kill a pathogen
	Minimizing costs could mean lower reproductive success
	The result of natural selection isn’t minimization of discomfort, it is optimal reproductive success (for genes, over many generations)

If symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, fever, etc. are helpful, why aren’t we harming ourselves by taking medications to reduce these symptoms? (choose all that apply)

Question options:

	Medications are specifically designed to work at levels that are helpful rather than harmful
	The smoke-detector principle means that our bodies are generally overreacting and thus we can generally get away with turning down our symptoms
	Sometimes we ARE harming ourselves

If pathogens can evolve more quickly than hosts, why haven’t the pathogens caused hosts to go extinct? (choose all that apply)

Question options:

	Because of vaccines and antibiotics
	Hosts often have complex immune systems that can quickly adapt to rapidly adapting pathogens
	It is not adaptive to kill off all hosts, virulence levels should reflect natural selection

Pathogens that require person-to-person contact will usually be selected to be _______ virulent than pathogens with an intermediate host (which doesn’t require mobility of the human host)

Question options:

	A) More
	B) Less
	C) Neither A nor B, Virulence does not have anything to do with host types

The result of natural selection in (unchanging environments) is: (choose all that apply)

Question options:

	Maximization of reproductive fitness
	Maximization of lifespan
	Maximization of health

Answer 1

*Q 1 Minimizing costs increases the risk of failing to kill a pathogen

Minimizing costs could mean lower reproductive success

The result of natural selection isn’t minimization of discomfort, it is optimal reproductive success (for genes, over many generations)

Q 2 Medications are specifically designed to work at levels that are helpful rather than harmful.

The smoke-detector principle means that our bodies are generally overreacting and thus we can generally get away with turning down our symptoms

Sometimes we ARE harming ourselves

   *Q 3  Because of vaccines and antibiotics

Hosts often have complex immune systems that can quickly adapt to rapidly adapting pathogens

It is not adaptive to kill off all hosts, virulence levels should reflect natural selection

*Q 4 C Neither A nor B, Virulence does not have anything to do with host types

* Q 5 Maximization of reproductive fitness

Maximization of lifespan

Maximization of health