Which Statement About Fitness and Natural Selection Is True

question 20

Multiple Choice

Which statement about fitness and natural selection is true?

• A) The fitness of individuals of a particular phenotype is a function of the probability that such individuals survive, multiplied by the average number of offspring they produce.
• B) The fitness of individuals of a particular phenotype is a function of the probability that such individuals survive, divided by the average number of offspring they produce.
• C) Changes in the absolute numbers of offspring necessarily lead to changes in allele frequencies from one generation to the next.
• D) Natural selection operates directly on the genotype.
• E) The fitness of an individual is determined solely by its ability to survive.

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Definitions:

Pluripotent Stem Cell

A stem cell that has the potential to differentiate into any of the three germ layers: endoderm, mesoderm, or ectoderm, thus capable of giving rise to any cell type of the body.

Somatic Cell Lines

Cultures derived from non-reproductive body cells used in research and medical treatments.

Meiosis

A type of cell division that reduces the chromosome number by half, creating four haploid cells, each genetically distinct from the parent cell and from each other.

Gametes

Gametes are reproductive cells (sperm in males and eggs in females) that fuse during fertilization to form a zygote, initiating the development of a new organism.