1. You discover a plant species in South America used by local populations that contains a chemical compound in its leaves that tastes sweet but does not contain calories (the chemical is abbreviated Reb. A.) You immediately think of selling this artificial sweetener in the USA and earning tons of money. The problem is that the concentration of Reb. A is very low in the leaves of the wild population of this plant and therefore expensive to grow, purify, and sell. You decide to breed a population of these plants with super-concentrated Reb. A.
You have plenty of land, greenhouses etc… Explain how you would breed a population of plants with super-concentrated Reb. A. Your initial population was collected from the wild and has an average concentration of 0.02g Reb. A/ g leaves. (Assume you have the ability to easily check for Reb.A concentration). In your explanation, clearly connect what you are doing with your population to Darwin’s four postulates we discussed in class. (There is no need to use any information beyond what we discussed in class.)
Long Response.
2. History of Evolutionary Thought
Summarize the Idea/Person assigned to you and connect that Idea/Person to two other Ideas/People presented in class. Your response should place your idea/person in the context of the history of evolutionary thought. Discuss how the other ideas influenced your idea, or how your idea influenced the other ideas.
In your answer, start with a paragraph summarizing the Idea assigned to you (You might need to change the first and last sentence to create a cohesive response.) Include additional paragraphs addressing the connections as prompted above.
Long Response
3. Explain why no mutation is one of the conditions for a population in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. (Remember you are teaching me the concept) Short Response.
