Blue-headed wrasse fish are born as biological “females”, bu…

Blue-headed wrasse fish are born as biological “females”, but change into biological “males” when they grow to a certain size. This switch is the result of fitness differences between “males” and “females” at different stages of development. Large individuals are better able to defend nesting sites from competitors, so fitness is higher in “males” that are larger. Which of the following graphs illustrates the relationship between size and fitness in the two sexes of blue-headed wrasse?

Some dinosaurs had small, fluffy feathers called “downy” fea…

Some dinosaurs had small, fluffy feathers called “downy” feathers (similar to down feathers in a pillow), but lacked the type of feathers necessary for flight. These dinosaurs are believed to be the ancestors of modern birds, which have several types of feathers that allow them to fly.  How can we explain the evolution of an “intermediate” trait such as downy feather, if they were functionally useless for flight?

Origin of life experiments by Miller, Urey, and others (Mill…

Origin of life experiments by Miller, Urey, and others (Miller-Urey Experiments) involved circulating a mixture of simple gases (a simulated reducing atmosphere) past an energy source such as a spark in an enclosed glass apparatus. Results of these experiments showed that

Prior to European colonization, tens of thousands of whoopin…

Prior to European colonization, tens of thousands of whooping cranes lived in North America. By 1938, due to overexploitation and habitat loss, whooping cranes were virtually extinct, with a total population of only 15 individuals. Since then, careful conservation efforts have increased the North American whooping crane population to over 800 today. From a genetic standpoint, as a result of this catastrophe, whooping cranes experienced a “population bottleneck”, which is a severe form of [answerA]. The current population of whooping cranes should be expected to have [answerB], relative to the pre-colonial population.