In the year 2500, five male space colonists and five female space colonists (all unrelated to each other) settle on an uninhabited Earthlike planet in the Andromeda galaxy. The colonists and their offspring randomly mate for generations. All ten of the original colonists had free earlobes, and two were heterozygous for that trait. The allele for free earlobes is dominant to the allele for attached earlobes.
Which of these is closest to the allele frequency in the founding population?
A) 0.1 a, 0.9 A
B) 0.2 a, 0.8 A
C) 0.5 a, 0.5 A
D) 0.8 a, 0.2 A
E) 0.4 a, 0.6 A
Answer: A
If one assumes that Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium applies to the population of colonists on this planet, about how many people will have attached earlobes when the planet's population reaches 10,000?
A) 100
B) 400
C) 800
D) 1,000
E) 10,000
Answer: A
If four of the original colonists died before they produced offspring, the ratios of genotypes could be quite different in the subsequent generations. This would be an example of
A) diploidy.
B) gene flow.
C) genetic drift.
D) disruptive selection.
E) stabilizing selection.
Answer: C