You are a biologist studying a population of sloths on a small island. You observe two phenotypes for fur color: black and beige. By breeding the sloths in captivity, you determine that black fur is the dominant allele (A) and beige fur is the recessive allele (a).
Question#1: You perform a survey of the wild sloth population. Of the 500 animals you observe, 455 of them have black fur and 45 of them have beige fur. Using the Hardy-Weinberg equation (
p
2
+
2
p
q
+
q
2
=
1
), determine the frequency of each genotype: AA, Aa, and aa. Show your work. (2 points)
Question#2: An invasive tree with cream-colored bark is introduced to the island and grows over a large portion of the sloths habitat.
You hypothesize that sloths with the phenotype for beige fur can use this tree for camouflage, while sloths with the phenotype for black fur are more easily seen by predators against the lighter tree bark. You predict that as a result, the frequency of the allele for beige fur (a) will become more common.
To test your hypothesis, you survey the sloth population again after the invasive tree has been present for 5 generations. This time, you only find 300 individuals. Of those 300, 288 sloths have black fur, and 12 have beige fur. Assume that the population survey from question 1 represents generation 1 (G1). Calculate the change in frequency for each allele (A, a) between generation 1 and generation 5 (G5). Show your work. (2 points)
Question#3: Was the hypothesis from question 2 supported? Explain why or why not and support your answer with the frequencies you found in question 2. (1 point)