REINDEER HEREDITY SUMMARY SHEET
Name ________________________________________
Hour _______
Use complete sentences. Embed the question in the answer.
1. How did the body cells of the buck and doe differ from the sex cells?
2. What causes a reindeer to be male or female?
3. During this activity we flipped coins often. We flipped coins to represent a process which
occurs in reindeer, humans, and all organisms which reproduce sexually
What process in the body of the reindeer did the coin flip represent?
___________________________
4. Would we expect that more dominant genes are passed on to children than
recessive genes? _________ EXPLAIN YOUR ANSWER
5. Did more dominant traits get passed to children than recessive traits? _______
Explain the reason. Use the word Probability in your answer
______________________________________________________
6. Draw a single stranded chromosome with one gene labeled on the chromosome….like we
drew in our activity. This was a useful drawing for us….but is it very accurate drawing?
_________ EXPLAIN
7. In our activity, every buck and every doe Parent started with exactly the same genes. Did all
of the baby reindeer in the class turn out the same? _________.
If all the parents were the same… explain how the offspring could be so different.
8.
9.
Differences in the traits of a species are called VARIATIONS.
Could the variations in a population of reindeer actually help the reindeer species to
survive? … help them to avoid extinction? _________. Explain your reasoning.
What is meant by VARIATION IN TRAITS ?
10. What are some Variations we see in human populations?
11. How could the baby reindeer inherit traits that their parents did not have?_____
Explain your answer.
Before answering. Remember, the baby reindeer got all of their genes from their
parents. : )
12. Sexual reproduction allows an offspring to have DNA from 2 parents. Why might getting
DNA from TWO parents be an advantage for a species for the compared to offspring getting
all their DNA from 1 parent?
Find a mate for your reindeer:
In the space below, use Punnett squares as a tool to predict the probability of a trait appearing in offspring produced from your
reindeer and its mate. Make the Punnett squares exactly as you were taught in class. Show a picture of the organism. A body cell.
Sex cells. Possible combinations of genes in each square. Use the square to arrive at a genotype ratio and a phenotype ratio for the
offspring. Write the ratio below the Punnett square
TRAIT #1 ______________________________________________
Predicted Genotype ratio
___________________ Predicted Phenotype ratio ______________
TRAIT #2 ______________________________________________
Predicted Genotype ratio
___________________ Predicted Phenotype ratio ______________
TRAIT #3 ______________________________________________
Predicted Genotype ratio
___________________ Predicted Phenotype ratio ______________
Reindeer population Questions
1. What was the population of reindeer in our class “herd” to start with
_______
2. How many different traits did we follow in this activity ______
3.
How much variation in traits was there in this population at the start of the activity?
A.
B.
C.
no variation…all deer showed the same traits
Some variation: some reindeer had groups of traits which the others did not have.
Lots of variation Most reindeer had groups of traits which the others didn’t have
4.
Draw a cartoon picture of a population of reindeer with no variation in traits.
5.
Draw a cartoon picture showing a population of reindeer with variation in traits.
6.
How many dominant genes were in our population to start with?
7.
How many dominant genes were passed on to the first generation of offspring? _________
8.
How many recessive genes were in our population to start with?
9.
How many recessive genes were passed on to the first generation offspring? ____________
10.
True or False. Our data suggests that dominant genes are more likely to be passed on to babies than
recessive genes.
________________
___________
11. Traits we can see in the offspring: PHENOTYPES:
Our class first generation of reindeer had a total of _______ dominant traits and _________ recessive traits.
11. The ratio of dominant traits to recessive traits appearing in the first generation offspring (round to nearest whole numbers)
is
________________ dominant traits for every ____________ recessive trait
12.
Our data suggests that if the parents are hybrid ( heterozygous ) for each trait… dominant traits are
_________ times as likely to appear in the offspring than recessive traits.
13. Some reindeer are observed to have curly antlers. Other reindeer are observed to have straight antlers. A
scientist makes the following claim
the allele for curly antlers is dominant over the allele for straight antlers.
How would you test her claim?
Hint: DON’T say look for the capital letter   !! Hint : Don’t say…”make a Punnett square”.
Instead, describe an experiment you could do with actual live reindeer.
Include an “IF THEN prediction for your experiment. ( see A and B below )
A.
Describe the experiment you would perform to test this scientists hypothesis
B.
How big a sample size ( how many reindeer ) will you need in your experiment before you can
trust the results?
C.
IF the allele for curly antlers is dominant over the allele for straight antlers… THEN I predict to
Observe _______________________________________________________________ during
my experiment
14. You notice that some reindeer have red noses while others have black noses. A friend tells you that he believes the
allele for black pigment molecules is dominant over the allele for red pigment molecules. His reasoning for this belief
is “ The black nose phenotype is more common in reindeer than the red nose phenotype.
A.
Is the most common phenotype always dominant? _______
B.
Describe an experiment which would allow you to test your friends hypothesis
C.
How big a sample size ( how many reindeer ) will you need in your experiment before you can
trust the results?
D.
IF the allele for black nose pigment is dominant over the allele for red nose pigment… THEN I
predict to Observe _______________________________________________________________
during my experiment