Evolution of Sex - Quiz 1 Outline (Outline updated Tues Aug 27th, 2019)

• What is secare and syngamy?
• What is "Evolutionary Fitness"?
• What is Evolution,and under evolution, what is the difference between Natural Selection and Sexual Selection due to female choice?
• What were the examples of natural selection discussed? (crypsis, giraffe's neck, industrial melanism)
• What were the examples of sexual selection discussed? (peacock's tail, giraffe's neck, birds of paradise & flashy males, the Trinidadian guppy, Bower bird males, and permanently enlarged breasts in adult women)
• What is the Handicap Principle? Who described this theory?
• Why are females more "choosy" than males when it comes to sexual reproduction?
• Know the 3 research experiments covered in lecture that support the theory of female choice and sexual selection (bower bird fembot experiment, widow bird and sparrow tail length experiment, & plumage and parasites experiment)
• What is Runaway Selection? Who described this theory?

Reading assignments:
Understanding Evolution Read about:
- natural selection
- fitness based on how many surviving offspring you have
- sexual selection with respect to female choice and male competition
- adaptation examples of echolocation in bats, trees competing with toxins, and insect (katydid) mimicry (another word for crypsis)
- how vestigial structures are not necessarily an example of adapation.
Bowerbirds Read about:
- Who is Brett Benz, and who (what) is "Donald"
- What does polygynous mean?
- Who is Natalie Doerr? What birds does she study in Australia?
- What did Doerr discover about these birds, with respect to the types of things placed in the bird's bowers to please females, and theft & bower damage by rivals?
Battle of the Sexes Pgs 15 - 16 Read about:
Pg 15 - 16:
- Paragraph titled "Why Be Choosy" - read about tail feather length in barn swallows and female choice. What was the significance of long healthy tail feathers and incidence of parasites (lice)? (This overlaps with the Parasites and Plumage discussion in lecture.)
Pg 16
- Amotz Zahavi suggests, in his research, that females asses only traits in males that are "honest indcators" of fitness. These honest indicators are often a handicap, which fit males must survive to be viewed as attractive to females. This female choice of males surviving a handicap as an honest indicator of their fitness is known as the Handicap Principle.
- How is the Trinidadian male guppies' risky behavior an honest indicator of fitness and the handicap principle?
- How did male guppies behave towards a potential predator when they in the presence of females? When no females were present?
- How did male guppy coloration (flashiness) correlate to their boldness and attractiveness to female guppies? Why would a female guppy prefer a flashier bold male than a rather dull and bold male? Does being flashy AND bold carry an increase in risk (handicap) when around predators?
- What is Runaway Selection? Do male guppies exhibit

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