What Is Life? A Guide to Biology

Jay Phelan

Chapter 9

Evolution and Behavior - all with Video Answers

Educators

Chapter Questions

Problem 1

Why do human taste preferences exist?
a) They are culturally generated; consumers are influenced by suggestive advertising.
b) Human feeding choices influence energy intake and, consequently, fitness.
c) Humans can extract energy from a variety of non-food sources, so taste preferences cause us to focus on foods that are more plentiful in our environment.
d) Fats actually do taste better than sugars.
e) Vitamins and minerals give foods unusual tastes, which causes us to seek them out.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 2

From an evolutionary perspective, behavior can best be viewed as:
a) a trait that arises by learning, not by natural selection.
b) non-heritable.
c) a trait subject to drift and mutation, but not natural selection.
d) part of the phenotype.
e) All of the above are correct.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 3

Why is it so much easier for an infant to learn a complex language than for a college student to learn biology?
a) Language involves memorization only, without the need for understanding rules, while biology involves both.
b) Language is a feature with great evolutionary relevance for humans.
c) Learning biology was not a behavior with evolutionary relevance for humans.
d) Biology involves much more vocabulary than learning a complex language.
e) Both b) and $c$ ) are correct.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 4

Babies in the United States quickly and easily develop a fear of snakes. Yet they don't easily develop a fear of guns. Why?
a) Humans cannot develop fears of inanimate objects.
b) Evolution can be slow in producing populations that are adapted to their environments.
c) Babies are more likely to encounter snakes than guns as they develop in the United States.
d) Fewer individuals are killed by guns than by snakes in the United States each year.
e) All of the above are correct.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 5

In Belding's ground squirrels, why are females much more likely than males to engage in altruistic behavior by sounding alarm calls?
a) Belding's ground squirrels have a sex ratio that is biased toward females.
b) Females invest more in foraging and food storage, so they are more likely to lose their lives or their food if a predator attacks.
c) Belding's ground squirrels have a sex ratio that is biased toward males.
d) Females tend to remain in the area where they were born, so the females that call are warning their own kin.
e) Males forage alone, so their alarm calls are useless.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 6

Gestational diabetes is thought to be the consequence of:
a) pregnant women decreasing their average daily amount of activity.
b) a mother withholding investment in future offspring in order to invest more in the current pregnancy.
c) a mother consuming too much sugar during gestation.
d) conflict between the mother and fetus with respect to how much food the fetus should be given; the mother is equally related to the fetus and to any future offspring, while the fetus is not equally related to itself and any subsequent siblings
e) physiological constraints on the amount of insulin a mother can provide for the fetus.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 7

Vampire bats:
a) sometimes regurgitate blood into the mouth of another bat that is close to starving, but the likelihood is a function of whether the individuals are genetically related.
b) are unusual in that they are one of the few animal species that exhibit kin selection.
c) sometimes regurgitate blood into the mouth of an unrelated bat that is close to starving.
d) exhibit reciprocal altruism but not kin selection.
e) There are no such things as vampire bats; they're found only in a Dracula novel.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 8

Altruistic behavior in animals may be a result of kin selection, a theory maintaining that:
a) genes promote the survival of copies of themselves when behaviors by animals possessing those genes assist other animals that share those genes.
b) aggression within sexes increases the survival and reproduction of the fittest individuals.
c) companionship is advantageous to animals because, in the future, they can recognize those that have helped them and provide help to those individuals.
d) aggression between the sexes increases the survival and reproduction of the fittest individuals.
e) companionship is advantageous to animals because, in the future, they can recognize those that have helped them and request help once again.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 9

All of the following conditions are necessary for reciprocal altruism to evolve in a species except:
a) the ability to recognize different individuals.
b) the ability to punish cheaters who do not reciprocate.
c) repeated interactions with the same individuals.
d) at least one of the sexes must not disperse so that some individuals always live near their kin.
e) None of the above is necessary for the evolution of reciprocal altruism.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 10

In a situation in which males guard eggs and care for the young without help from the female, which of the following statements would most likely be correct?
a) Males are large and more brightly colored in order to attract the very best females.
b) Males and females are equally brightly colored, but males court females aggressively.
c) The population is monogamous with no sexual dimorphism.
d) A single male controls a harem of females to which he has exclusive reproductive access.
e) Females are more brightly colored than males and court males aggressively.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 11

In mammals, as well as many other species, males generally compete for females. The best explanation for this phenomenon is:
a) males are more aggressive.
b) males, on average, have higher fitness.
c) females have a higher parental investment.
d) males are choosy.
e) females are better looking.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 12

Mate guarding is a reproductive tactic that functions to:
a) reduce paternity uncertainty.
b) increase the female's investment in offspring.
c) reduce the male's reproductive investment.
d) reduce the female's fitness.
e) increase the number of mates to which a male has access.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 13

Relative to birds, more mammalian species are:
a) polygynous.
b) monogamous.
c) polyandrous.
d) hermaphroditic.
e) sexually monomorphic.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 14

In a species such as pigeons, in which males are almost indistinguishable in appearance from females, the most likely mating system is:
a) monomorphism.
b) monogamy.
c) polygyny.
d) polyandry.
e) It is impossible to predict the mating system with only this information.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 15

If you find a species of fish in which males are much more brightly colored and larger than females, what might you infer about their mating system?
a) The degree of sexual dimorphism does not give any information about the mating system.
b) They are simultaneous hermaphrodites.
c) They exhibit parallel monogamy.
d) They are serially monogamous.
e) They are polygynous.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator

Problem 16

Polygynous species:
a) usually employ external fertilization.
b) are usually sexually dimorphic, with males larger and more highly ornamented.
c) are usually sexually dimorphic, with females larger and more highly ornamented.
d) usually have males and females that are physically indistinguishable.
e) are more commonly found among birds than among mammals.

Zachary Papazian

Zachary Papazian

Numerade Educator