Name _____________________________________ Period ____
Sex determination: More complicated than you thought - Aaron Reedy
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/sex-determination-more-complicated-than-you-thought
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1.
The sex determination systems for most mammals and birds are similar in
that, for both groups sex is determined by
a. Temperature
b. Genetics
c. The environment
d. Location
2. For species with temperature dependent sex determination, like the painted turtle, global
climate change is a serious concern. In what ways would you expect that female painted
turtles will respond behaviorally when choosing nest sites in a warming climate?
3. In ants and other highly social insects, sex is determined by:
a. The weather
b. The existing ratio of males to females
c. Whether or not an egg is fertilized
d. The ZW chromosome system
4. One of the advantages of asexual reproduction, like we see in the whiptail lizards, is that
no energy is expended to find a mate. However, some animals like rotifers (microscopic
aquatic animals) use asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction depending on which
form of reproduction the environmental conditions favor at the moment. Which
environmental conditions do you think would favor asexual reproduction? Which
environmental conditions do you think would favor sexual reproduction?
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5. For painted turtles, warm temperatures in the nest during the critical time of
development will produce:
a. All female turtles
b. All male turtles
c. A 50/50 mix of male and female turtles
d. A random sex assortment
6. In the movie Finding Nemo, Nemo and his dad, Marlin, are clownfish. If the writers of
Finding Nemo had made the movie more scientifically accurate, what would have most
likely happened when Nemo’s mom was eaten by a barracuda?
a. The eggs would have all hatched as females
b. Nemo’s dad would have moved to the bottom of the dominance hierarchy
c. Nemo’s dad would have abandoned the nest
d. Nemo’s dad would have become female
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7. For the green spoon worm, males are produced when
a. Sea temperatures are cool
b. Each parent contributes an X chromosome
c. A larva lands on top of a female
d. A larva lands on