List of top Applied Ecology & Evolution Questions on Natural selection

Two species of butterflies are equally toxic to their main potential predator. Their morphological similarity helps to reduce predation rates on both species. This phenomenon is known as _________.

The distributions of beak size in a bird population at two different times, \(t=0\) and \(t=t_1\), are shown below. At \(t=0\) beak sizes form a single narrow peak centred around 5 mm. By \(t=t_1\) the distribution has split into two separate peaks, one smaller and one larger than 5 mm, with very few birds still having a beak size close to 5 mm.

In going from time \(t=0\) to \(t=t_1\), the variance of the distribution in beak size in the population has _________.

When comparing life-history traits across animal species, which one of the following relationships is LEAST expected under r-selection and K-selection theory?

Two bacterial variants are growing together in the same flask. At any relative frequency of the two variants, the population growth rate of the rarer variant is higher. This is an example of ________.

Which one or more of the following is/are NOT essential for evolution by natural selection to take place in a population?