Q44 - From Hamilton's Rule to the Price Equation in Social Evolution
Charles Darwin’s (1809-1882) discovery was united with Mendelian genetics by Sir Ronald Fisher (1890-1962) and John Haldane (1892-1964). Equations then allowed biologists to predict evolution, including the evolution of complex traits like behaviour, and quantitative traits like height.
Using the information and data, determine which of the statements are true or which are false.
A. Spiteful behaviours (cost to the actor and recipient) exist when actors are more related to recipients than expected by chance.
B. These equations predict alleles exist which produce a recognisable trait (e.g. appearance or pheromones) and also cause altruism towards unrelated individuals with that trait.
C. These equations predict stress responses in some organisms include purposeful increases in mutation rate.
D. Naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber) colonies of many adults, with a single breeding pair, can be explained by inclusive fitness.
E. Natural selection acts more quickly when aphids are in their sexual lifecycle, than asexual lifecycle.
Question reproduced from IBO 2017, Theoretical Exam A, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 - attributed to the International Biology Olympiad. Open the full exam PDF · Official answer key & worked solutions