Fireflies use light signals to locate mates. Individuals with smaller, and thus less visible, light organs are less successful at mating. In January of 1985, a highway with bright streetlights was constructed through a prairie where a firefly population lives. This created a selection pressure for brighter (larger) light organs in the population. The light organ was, on average, 4 mm long in the population prior to the construction of the highway. In 2005, the average light organ size in this population (before mating) was 6 mm. This firefly species has 1 generation per year, and the narrow sense heritability ( h^2) of the light organ is 0.1. a) What is the strength of selection (S) for the larger light organ. b) What was the mean light organ length of successfully reproducing individuals in 1985 (the first year of selection)?
Fireflies use light signals to locate mates. Individuals with smaller, and thus less visible, light
organs are less successful at mating. In January of 1985, a highway with bright streetlights
was constructed through a prairie where a firefly population lives. This created a selection
pressure for brighter (larger) light organs in the population. The light organ was, on average,
4 mm long in the population prior to the construction of the highway. In 2005, the average
light organ size in this population (before mating) was 6 mm. This firefly species has
1 generation per year, and the narrow sense heritability ( h^2) of the light organ is 0.1.
a) What is the strength of selection (S) for the larger light organ.
b) What was the mean light organ length of successfully reproducing individuals in 1985
(the first year of selection)?
In 1985, the construction of a highway through a firefly population's habitat introduced a significant environmental change. This alteration in the landscape created a novel selection pressure on the fireflies, favoring individuals with larger light organs. This study explores the impact of this environmental change on the firefly population and investigates the strength of selection and the mean light organ size of successful reproducing individuals in the first year of selection.
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