L5

Question 1

Why is it important to know whether current conditions select animals to predict the future environment?

Answer 1

• we change env. in almost every way (climate change, habitat destruction etc
• climate change leads to mismatches between predator and prey cycles
• can understand if an how animals adapt in behaviour time while waiting for adaptive mutations in genotype

Question 2

Are effects of early environments adaptive or maladaptive?

Answer 2

• clinical literature - maladaptive (most medical research concerned with death)
• evolutionary literature - adaptive premise (disease and death are consequences of best-of-bad-job strategies or mismatches

Question 3

DESCRIBE AND EXPLAIN

graph: fitness x env. change

Answer 3

1. First period of env. change - “plasticity” - fitness is constant as animals have certain ability to adapt
2. “mitigation” - gradual fitness decline - trade off zone. Thrifty phenotype, compensatory growth etc
3. “pathology” - sharp fitness decline - no longer drives evolution but medical research focusses here (thus on v small % of population)

Question 4

Fitness x quality of adult env. graphs (2 lines - one for good early env, one for poor early env.)

• lines crossing
• both going up but diff. gradients
• good up poor down

Answer 4

• crossing indicates some form of matching (PAR hypothesis) - good adult and offspring env = good fitness; bad adult and offspring environment also equals SAME GOOD FITNESS
• SILVER SPOON
• good up poor down - good fitness if born in good env which stays good. If env. gets worse, fitness decreases