1)The use of deceptive signals is common in nature. Certainorchids, for example, lure pollinator wasps with flower petals thatsmell like receptive female wasps. This example can be viewed as aDarwinian puzzle because:
a. The proportion of orchid flowers that set fruit as a resultof successful pollination is actually pretty small.
b. Discriminating male wasps should be favoured by naturalselection so that they do not waste time, energy, and even sperm onorchid flowers.
c. Time and energy spent on orchids reduces the capacity of thewasp population to grow, since the deceptive plants slow theability of male wasps to fertilize all the eggs of theirfemales.
d. It is next to impossible to figure out how orchid flowersevolved to smell like the females of certain wasps.
2) During courtship, the males of some spider species offertheir mates a nuptial gift, a prey item, usually an insect of somekind, such as a cricket. Mating success for the male is highlydependent on the female accepting the gift. Researchers also notedthat males used white silk to wrap the generally dark-colouredgifts just as mated females do with their eggs sacs and wondered ifmales did this intentionally. (4 marks)
i. The last sentence in the paragraph above constitutes:
a. A causal question.
b. A hypothesis.
c. A prediction.
d. Test evidence.
ii. What theory was used to explore the courtship behaviourdescribed above?
iii. Which of the following predictions might likely be correct,given the presumption that males might be making their nuptialgifts look like eggs sacs?
a. The time it takes for a female to accept a nuptial giftshould be less for prey covered in silk that has beenexperimentally coloured brown instead of white.
b. Natural silk-covered prey should be comparable in lightreflectance to silken egg sacs
. c. Females should readily grab and hold silken egg sacs thathad been taken from them but then offered back as if they were anuptial gift.