Self-study
Biologist: Some speculate that the unusually high frequency of small goats found in island populations is a response to evolutionary pressure to increase the number of goats so as to ensure a diverse gene pool. ████████ ████ ███ ████████████ ███████ ██ █ █████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ █ ███████████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █ ████ ██████████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ █████ █████ █████████ ███████ ████████████ ███████ ████ █████ ██████ ████████
Summary
The biologist refutes the view that the high frequency of small goats on islands is due to evolutionary pressure to increase the number of goats. Why is this wrong? The only way a trait can increase in frequency is through reproductive success, Therefore, the only evolutionary pressure that could cause this phenomenon is small goats achieving greater reproductive success.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
The biologist considers the speculations she refers to to be incorrect.
Small goats have greater reproductive success in island populations than larger goats.
Ensuring a diverse gene pool does not qualify as evolutionary pressure.
22.
The biologist's view, if true, ████████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
The evolutionary pressure ██ ██████ █ ███████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ █ ████ ███ █████ █████
Anti-supported. The biologist refutes this point. She says only reproductive success would qualify as evolutionary pressure.
b
The unusual frequency ██ █████ █████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███ █ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████████ ███████ █████ █████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ████████
Anti-supported. The biologist claims that the only thing that can reduce the average size of the population is greater reproductive success for small goats. This may or may not be due to the small space.
c
Contrary to what ████ ████████ █████ █████ ███████ ███████ ████████████ ███████ ████ █████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ████████
Unsupported. There is no support for the actual reproductive success rates by goat size. The biologist is advocating the point that the smaller goats must achieve greater reproductive success in order to decrease the average size of the goats.
d
The evolutionary pressure ██ ██████ █ ███████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ █ ████ ███ █████ █████
Strongly supported. The author dismisses this claim on the grounds that it does not impact reproductive success, the only way to influence frequency. Therefore, ensuring a diverse gene pool cannot have the effect of increasing the frequency of the gene for small size.
e
A diverse gene ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ █ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████
Unsupported. There is no information as to how a diverse gene pool can or cannot be achieved. That was only part of a theory that was dismissed.