$3.00 Genetics question (Weismann's hypothesis)
1. Propose 3 hypotheses to explain why sexyual reproduction has evolved.
2. Propose a way to test a hypothesis listed above.
For Q3 and Q4:
There is a snail that lives in New Zealand lakes that has both asexual and sexual individuals. The snails live in FW habitats and there are over a dozen worm parasites that attack them. The scientists reasoned that there might be a difference in the fitness of the asexual and sexual individuals in ponds where there were different degrees of parasitism. They found in poinds where there was a high degree of parasitism there was a much higher percentage of sexually reproducing individuals.
3. Before carrying out the experiment, why did the scientists expect there would be a difference in fitness between sexual and asexual snails in ponds with different degrees of parasitism?
4. Are the data they obtained consistent with Weismann's hypothesis? Explain your thinking.
3-4 sentence repsonse for each question acceptable.