Keith is a zoologist. He studies large predators. Last year, he was studying different species of lions. First, he visited the Gir forest in India. There he found the Asiatic Lions. Unfortunately, only few Asiatic Lions are left in the wild, and they have to mate with their close relatives. He then visited the Serengeti reserve in Tanzania. There he found that the African Lions were not forced to mate with close relatives due to their large number. Given the paragraph above, please answer correctly the following question: Would Gir forest see less or more inbreeding depression than Serengeti reserve? Hint: During sexual reproduction, mating with a close relative (inbreeding) often leads to inbreeding depression. Inbreeding depression is considered to be largely due to expression of deleterious recessive mutations. The effects of inbreeding have been studied in many vertebrate species.
Ans: more

Grant and Fox were talking about flying to Hawaii for a tour of the islands. Grant was born on the Big Island, while Fox never visited Hawaii. Given the paragraph above, please answer correctly the following question: Which friend lived closer to Kauai island? Hint: The Hawaiian Islands ( Figure above ) are in the central Pacific Ocean. The islands are volcanoes that increase in age from southeast to northwest. The youngest island is the Big Island of Hawaii at the southeast end of the chain. The volcanoes get older through Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, Kauai, and Niihau Islands through the northwest. The Kilauea volcano on Hawaii has been erupting almost continuously since 1983. There are also eruptions at an underwater volcano called Loihi seamount. Loihi is the youngest volcano. Hawaii is a fantastic place to see volcanic eruptions and features.
Ans: Grant

An anthropologist gathered observations for two native tribes from southern Africa. He noticed that both tribes spend the majority of the day outside, and therefore they are both exposed to fairly high amounts of UV light. He also quickly realized that one key difference between the tribes was that members of tribe A had dark skin, while members of tribe B had light skin. Given the paragraph above, please answer correctly the following question: Members of which tribe will block less UV light from penetrating their skin? Hint: The epidermis also contains melanocytes , which are cells that produce melanin. Melanin is the brownish pigment that gives skin much of its color. Everyone has about the same number of melanocytes, but the melanocytes of people with darker skin produce more melanin. The amount of melanin produced is determined by heredity and exposure to UV light, which increases melanin output. Exposure to UV light also stimulates the skin to produce vitamin D . Because melanin blocks UV light from penetrating the skin, people with darker skin may be at greater risk of vitamin D deficiency.
Ans: tribe B

Bobby and Kenny are two prolific farmers from Arkansas who have ponds located down stream from their farm sites. Bobby recently received a large order of potatoes from a neighboring city. Because of this order, Bobby has dramatically increased the amount of fertilizer he is using on his farm. Kenny mainly grows tomatoes, which are not in season right now, so his use of fertilizer is currently low. Over the past month there has been a large amount of rain falling on both Bobby and Kenny's farms. Given the paragraph above, please answer correctly the following question: Who will cause more fertilizer to end up in the ponds near their farm? Hint: Rain dissolves fertilizer in the soil. Runoff carries it away. The fertilizer ends up in bodies of water, from ponds to oceans. Nitrogen is a fertilizer in the water. Since there is a lot of nitrogen, it causes algae to grow out of control. Pictured below is a pond covered with algae ( Figure below ). Algae use up carbon dioxide in the water. After the algae die, decomposers break down the dead tissue. The decomposers use up all the oxygen in the water. This creates a dead zone. A dead zone is an area in a body of water where nothing grows because there is too little oxygen. There is a large dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico ( Figure below ). The U.S. states outlined on the map have rivers that drain into the Gulf of Mexico. The rivers drain vast agricultural lands. The water carries fertilizer from these areas into the Gulf.
Ans: Bobby