32. Vertebrates

The blending inheritance hypothesis proposed that the genetic material from parents is mixed in the offspring. As a result, traits of offspring and later descendants should lie between the phenotypes of parents. Mendel, in contrast, proposed that genes are discrete and that their integrity is maintained in the offspring and in subsequent generations. Suppose the year is 1890. You are a horse breeder who has just read Mendel's paper. You don't believe his results, however, because you often work with cremello (very light-colored) and chestnut (reddish-brown) horses. You know that when you breed a cremello individual from a pure-breeding line with a chestnut individual from a pure-breeding line, the offspring are palomino—meaning they have an intermediate (golden-yellow) body color. What additional cross would you do to test whether Mendel's model is valid in the case of genes for horse color? According to his model, what offspring phenotype frequencies would you get from your experimental cross? Explain why your cross would test Mendel's model versus blending inheritance.

The adaptation that freed vertebrates from water for reproduction and allowed them to radiate into diverse terrestrial environments was the __________.

Which of the following characteristics is not shared by extant birds and extant reptiles?

The opossum is an example of a(n) __________ mammal.

All mammals __________.

Which of the following is an archosaur group?

Unlike eutherians, both monotremes and marsupialsa. lack nipples.b. have some embryonic development outside the uterus.c. lay eggs.d. are found in Australia and Africa.

What two major lineages make up the living Amniota?

Which statement is true about endothermy in mammals and birds?a. They both inherited this trait from a common ancestor.b. Birds are more closely related to mammals than to reptiles.c. Endothermy arose independently in these two lineages.d. Birds are reptiles and all reptiles are ectothermic.

Compare amniotic eggs to placentas.

Suppose you are heterozygous for two genes that are located on different chromosomes. You carry alleles A and a for one gene and alleles B and b for the other. Be sure to list all the genetically different gametes that could form and indicate how frequently each type should be observed.

Suppose you are heterozygous for two genes that are located on different chromosomes. You carry alleles A and a for one gene and alleles B and b for the other. On the diagram, identify the events responsible for the principle of segregation and the principle of independent assortment.