Reference no: EM133674782

Assignment:

A. This is a Gruffalo (Donaldson, J, 1999, Puffin Books). It is a terrifying looking animal who is the biggest, baddest creature in the whole dark wood. Other animals are very afraid of it, as it is a top predator. Gruffalos release lots of olfactory chemicals marking them as predators that are smelled by other animals, and these chemicals vary from gruffalo to gruffalo depending on their genotypes (specific genes and related alleles are not known, just know that gruffalos vary for genetic reasons). There is variation in the olfactory chemicals released when gruffalos are in different types of forests (i.e. not just deep darks woods), where some gruffalos increase their olfactory chemicals, and some decrease.

i. Draw the associated reaction norms for 4 genotypes of gruffalo in two different forest environments, and name the mechanism acting here (2pts). For two different forest environments (e.g., dense and sparse), draw two lines for each of the four genotypes on a graph. The x-axis represents the environment type, and the y-axis represents the phenotype (e.g., size). The lines might vary in slope, indicating how different genotypes respond to the two environments. (genotype-environment interaction)

ii. Additionally, all gruffalos are tricked by little brown mice, where gruffalos think they are prey animals when in the presence of little brown mice (who's favourite food is Gruffalo crumble). Draw the associated reaction norm for the same 4 genotypes of gruffalo in environments with and without mice and name the mechanism acting here.

When considering the presence or absence of little brown mice, the reaction norms will illustrate how the presence of mice (a predator or stress factor) affects the phenotypes of the gruffalo genotypes. On a new graph, for the same four genotypes, draw lines showing phenotype expression in environments with and without mice. This might show changes in behavior or physical traits due to the presence of mice.