Q. Assume that pesticide resistance in beetles is a quantitative trait that can be measured as the number of days a beetle survives after exposure to the pesticide. The least resistant beetles die within one day, while the most resistant beetles can live for 12 days after exposure.
a) Illustrate an experiment that you could use to measure how this population of beetles responds to the selection that occurs when the population is exposed to the pesticide. Include details about how you would control non-genetic sources of variation.
b) Sketch a graph showing the response to selection if the heritability, h2, of pesticide resistance is 0.2.
c) Sketch another graph showing the response to selection if the heritability, h2, of pesticide resistance is 0.8.