Why Sex?

Part 1 (KEY)
Video (55 mins)

1. What single tread connects all life on Earth?

Pasting on genes to the next generation.
2. Describe the South Texas lizard’s reproductive strategy.
This is an all female species; no sex.
3. What are 2 “short comings” of sexual reproduction from the female’s point of
view? (1) Males typically don’t help with rearing the off
spring (2) She only passes on half of her genes to her off
spring.

4. What is the “Red Queen “hypothesis? In order to survive, a species

must constantly evolve.

5. Why were the sexually reproducing desert fish a moving target for parasites?
They are constantly reshuffling their genes.

6. What does sex provide for the offspring? Genetic variation

7. Why can males be considered a “genetic insurance policy”?

Males provide
genetic variation to fight off rapidly evolving parasites and
disease organisms.

8. Why should females be choosy in mate selection?

She does most of the work in reproduction, so she must trade this
off for great genes from her mate.

9. Darwin had a problem with the peacock. What was it? The
male’s large tail
appeared to be negatively adaptive (can fly as fast; attracts
predators).
10. What mechanism often leads to great morphological differences between males
and females? Sexual selection

11. What are two modes of behavior often displayed in males and females?
(a)Males compete for mates and (b) females are choosy.

12. Victorian males who had accepted natural selection had a problem with another
aspect of Darwin’s evolution explanations. What was it?

They did not accept the idea of “choosy females” as being

important in evolution.