Question

Pine trees that are too tall or too short do not do as well as pine trees that are average in height. The short trees do not get as much light as tall or average trees. The tall trees are more likely to break off in storms. Tell how this is an example of stabilizing selection. Be sure to define stabilizing selection in your answer.

Answer 1

Answer:

Median height is selected

Explanation:

Stabilizing selection is a particular type of natural selection where the mean of the trait in the population stabilizes on non-extreme phenotypes, thereby favoring intermediate phenotypic variants. At genetic level, stabilizing selection is shaped by selective forces that push the distribution of the trait in the population toward the average (median trait), it is a condition that may happen when a population is completely adapted to its environment. Thus, stabilizing selection acts to purge the extreme phenotypic variants via purifying selection. Stabilizing selection is considered to be one of the most important mechanisms controlling the distribution of different phenotypes after many cycles of artificial selection, it s for that reason that breeders believe that this type of natural selection is the most common in nature.