Look again at Figures 13.10 and 13.13, which show lifehistory trade-offs for a hypothetica...

Look again at Figures 13.10 and 13.13, which show lifehistory trade-offs for a hypothetical species. Suppose you are studying these animals, and you discover a new mutation from the wild type that causes its carriers to have two offspring per year instead of one. The new mutation does not alter the age of maturation, which still occurs at 3 years. Your initial observations indicate that the new mutation may cause an early death, but you are not certain exactly how early. You do notice, however, that the new mutation is increasing in frequency and the wildtype allele is decreasing. Make a prediction about the minimum possible age of death of organisms that carry this mutation, and explain your reasoning.

Figure 1. A simple model shows the modest fitness cost of a late-acting deleterious mutation

Fig 2 Figure Inbreeding depression increases with age in fruit flies Drawn from data inHughes et al. (2002).

Fig 3 Figure Life span declines rapidly in housefly populations allowed to breed only early in life This is likely due to the accumulation of lateacting deleterious mutations. Redrawn from Reed and Bryant(2000).