Biological Diversity: Going Further

Inheritance, variation and why a population with more of it survives more.

8 questions, free, marked as you go with a worked explanation on every one.

What this covers

The questions

  1. A farmer plants one variety of wheat across the whole farm. A new fungus arrives. What is the risk, in terms of biological diversity?
  2. Two parents are both Bb for a trait where B is dominant. Out of 100 offspring, how many would you expect to show the recessive trait?
  3. In the cross above, what fraction of the offspring would you expect to carry the recessive allele without showing it?
  4. Which of these produce variation within a species? Select all that apply.
  5. A population of beetles is mostly green, with a few brown ones. The habitat changes to bare brown soil, and birds hunt by sight. What happens over many generations?
  6. What is the key difference between asexual and sexual reproduction, for diversity?
  7. A survey of a wetland finds 40 mallards, 30 coots, 20 grebes and 10 herons. What percentage of the birds counted are grebes?
  8. Two wetlands each hold 100 birds. Wetland A has four species in roughly equal numbers. Wetland B has four species, but 94 of its birds are mallards. Which has the greater biological diversity, and why?

Answer these free