Question

A researcher is studying tortoise beetles. She finds that narrow-sense heritability (H₂ ) for larval group defense is 0.1 while the H₂ for elytra length is 0.5. What can you conclude from these data?

1) There is less genetic variation for larval group defense than for elytra length.
2) There is more environmental variation for larval group defense than for elytra length.
3) There is more total phenotypic variation for larval group defense than for elytra length.
4) Any one or combination of these options could be true.
5) None of these options could be true.

Answer 1

There is less genetic variation for larval group defense than for elytra length.

Step-by-step explanation:

The given data shows the narrow-sense heritability (H₂) for larval group defense is 0.1, while the H₂ for elytra length is 0.5.

From these data, we can conclude that there is less genetic variation for larval group defense than for elytra length. This means that the genetic factors play a smaller role in determining the variation in larval group defense compared to the variation in elytra length.