EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT POKEMON

POKEMON is a media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, a Japanese consortium between Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. The franchise copyright is shared by all three companies, but Nintendo is the sole owner of the trademark. The franchise was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995, and is centered on fictional creatures called "Pokémon", which humans, known as Pokémon Trainers, catch and train to battle each other for sport.
The franchise began as a pair of video games for the original Game Boy that were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo. It now spans video games, trading card games, animated television shows and movies, comic books, and toys. Pokémon is the second best-selling video game franchise, behind only Nintendo's Mario franchise and one of the Highest-Grossing Media franchises of all time.
Cumulative sales of the video games  have reached more than 280 million copies. As of May 2016, the Pokémon franchise has grossed revenues of ¥4.8 trillion worldwide .
The franchise celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2006. 2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the original games, with the company celebrating by airing an ad during Super Bowl 50, issuing re-releases of Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow and completely redesigning the way the games are played. The mobile augmented reality game Pokémon Go was released in July 2016. The first seventh-generation games Pokémon Sun and Moon were released worldwide on November 18, 2016. A live-action film adaptation based on Great Detective Pikachu is planned to start production in 2017.
Name  The name Pokémon is the romanized contraction of the Japanese brand . The term Pokémon, in addition to referring to the Pokémon franchise itself, also collectively refers to the 802 known fictional species that have made appearances in Pokémon media as of the release of the seventh generation titles Pokémon Sun and Moon. "Pokémon" is identical in both the singular and plural, as is each individual species name; it is grammatically correct to say "one Pokémon" and "many Pokémon", as well as "one Pikachu" and "many Pikachu".
Concept
Tajiri first thought of Pokémon, albeit with a different concept, around 1989 or 1990, when the Game Boy was first released. The concept of the Pokémon universe, in both the video games and the general fictional world of Pokémon, stems from the hobby of insect collecting, a popular pastime which Pokémon executive director Satoshi Tajiri enjoyed as a child. Players are designated as Pokémon Trainers and have two general goals: complete the Pokédex by collecting all of the available Pokémon species found in the fictional region where a game takes place, and train a team of powerful Pokémon from those they have caught to compete against teams owned by other Trainers so they may eventually win the fictional Pokémon League and become the regional Champion. These themes of collecting, training, and battling are present in almost every version of the Pokémon franchise, including the video games, the anime and manga series, and the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
In most incarnations of the fictional Pokémon universe, a Trainer who encounters a wild Pokémon is able to capture that Pokémon by throwing a specially designed, mass-producible spherical tool called a Poké Ball at it. If the Pokémon is unable to escape the confines of the Poké Ball, it is officially considered to be under the ownership of that Trainer. Afterwards, it will obey whatever its new master commands, unless the Trainer demonstrates such a lack of experience that the Pokémon would rather act on its own accord. Trainers can send out any of their Pokémon to wage non-lethal battles against other Pokémon; if the opposing Pokémon is wild, the Trainer can capture that Pokémon with a Poké Ball, increasing his or her collection of creatures. Pokémon already owned by other Trainers cannot be captured, except under special circumstances in certain games. If a Pokémon fully defeats an opponent in battle so that the opponent is knocked out, the winning Pokémon gains experience points and may level up. When leveling up, the Pokémon's statistics  of battling aptitude increase, such as Attack and Speed. From time to time the Pokémon may also learn new moves, which are techniques used in battle. In addition, many species of Pokémon can undergo a form of metamorphosis and transform into a similar but stronger species of Pokémon, a process called evolution.
In the main series, each game's single-player mode requires the Trainer to raise a team of Pokémon to defeat many non-player character  Trainers and their Pokémon. Each game lays out a somewhat linear path through a specific region of the Pokémon world for the Trainer to journey through, completing events and battling opponents along the way . Each game  features eight especially powerful Trainers, referred to as Gym Leaders, that the Trainer must defeat in order to progress. As a reward, the Trainer receives a Gym Badge, and once all eight badges are collected, that Trainer is eligible to challenge the region's Pokémon League, where four immensely talented trainers  challenge the Trainer to four Pokémon battles in succession. If the trainer can overcome this gauntlet, he or she must then challenge the Regional Champion, the master Trainer who had previously defeated the Elite Four. Any Trainer who wins this last battle becomes the new champion. In Sun and Moon, however, the Gym Leaders are not present, and are instead replaced with "Trial Captains", a NPC who gives the Trainer a challenge to complete so as to earn a special item. Once the player completes all of these on an island, the Trainer must take on the Island Kahuna, the strongest Trainer on the island. Once the player beats all the Kahunas, they must travel to the recently built Pokémon League, where they must re-defeat the Kahunas, who now form the Elite Four, and then defend their title against challengers.
Video games
Generations  
The original Pokémon games were role-playing games  with an element of strategy, and were created by Satoshi Tajiri for the Game Boy. These RPGs, and their sequels, remakes, and English language translations, are still considered the "main" Pokémon games, and the games which most fans of the series are referring to when they use the term "Pokémon games". All of the licensed Pokémon properties overseen by The Pokémon Company International are divided roughly by generation. These generations are roughly chronological divisions by release; every several years, when an official sequel in the main RPG series is released that features new Pokémon, characters, and gameplay concepts, that sequel is considered the start of a new generation of the franchise. The main games and their spin-offs, the anime, manga, and trading card game are all updated with the new Pokémon properties each time a new generation begins. The franchise began the seventh generation on November 18, 2016.
Generation 1  
The Pokémon franchise started off in its first generation with its initial release of Pocket Monsters Aka and Midori  for the Game Boy in Japan on February 27, 1996. When these games proved extremely popular, an enhanced Ao  version was released sometime after, and the Ao version was reprogrammed as Pokémon Red and Blue for international release. The games launched in the United States on September 30, 1998. The original Aka and Midori versions were never released outside Japan. Afterwards, a further enhanced version titled Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition was released to partially take advantage of the color palette of the Game Boy Color, as well as to feature more elements from the popular Pokémon anime. This first generation of games introduced the original 151 species of Pokémon, in National Pokédex order, encompassing all Pokémon from Bulbasaur to Mew. It also introduced the basic game concepts of capturing, training, battling, and trading Pokémon with both computer and human players. These versions of the games take place within the fictional Kanto region, inspired by the real world Kantō region of Japan, though the name "Kanto" was not used until the second generation.
Generation 2  
The second generation of Pokémon began in 1999 with the release of Pokémon Gold and Silver for Game Boy Color. Like the previous generation, an enhanced version titled Pokémon Crystal was later released. The second generation introduced 100 new species of Pokémon, starting with Chikorita and ending with Celebi. It totaled 251 Pokémon to collect, train, and battle, set in Johto, inspired by Japan's Kansai region. The Pokémon mini is a handheld game console released in November 2001 in North America, December 2001 in Japan, and 2002 in Europe.
Generation 3  
Pokémon entered its third generation with the 2002 release of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire for Game Boy Advance and continued with the Game Boy Advance remakes of Pokémon Red and Blue, Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, and an enhanced version of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire titled Pokémon Emerald. The third generation introduced 135 new Pokémon, starting with Treecko and ending with Deoxys, for a total of 386 species. It is set in Hoenn, inspired by Japan's Kyushu region. However, this generation also garnered some criticism for leaving out several gameplay features, including the day-and-night system introduced in the previous generation. It was also the first installment that encouraged the player to collect merely a selected assortment of the total number of Pokémon rather than every existing species. By contrast, 202 out of 386 species are catchable in the Ruby and Sapphire versions.
Generation 4  
In 2006, Japan began the fourth generation of the franchise with the release of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl for Nintendo DS. The fourth generation introduced another 107 new species of Pokémon, starting with Turtwig and ending with Arceus, bringing the total of Pokémon species to 493. The Nintendo DS "touch screen" allows new features to the game such as cooking poffins with the stylus and using the "Pokétch". New gameplay concepts include a restructured move-classification system, online multiplayer trading and battling via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, the return and expansion of the second generation's day-and-night system, the expansion of the third generation's Pokémon Contests into "Super Contests", and the new region of Sinnoh. This region was inspired by Japan's Hokkaido region and part of Russia's Sakhalin, and has an underground component for multiplayer gameplay in addition to the main overworld. Pokémon Platinum, the enhanced version of Diamond and Pearl—much like Pokémon Yellow, Crystal, and Emerald—was released in September 2008 in Japan, March 2009 in North America, and May 2009 in Australia and Europe. Spin-off titles in the fourth generation include the Pokémon Stadium follow-up Pokémon Battle Revolution for Wii, which has Wi-Fi connectivity as well. Nintendo announced in May 2009 that enhanced remakes of Pokémon Gold and Silver, entitled Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, would be released for the Nintendo DS system. HeartGold and SoulSilver are set in the Johto region and were released in September 2009 in Japan.
Generation 5  
The fifth generation of Pokémon began on September 18, 2010, with the release of Pokémon Black and White in Japan for Nintendo DS. The games were originally announced by the Pokémon Company on January 29, 2010, with a tentative release later that year. The final release date of September 18 was announced on June 27, 2010. This version is set in the, inspired by New York City, and utilizes the Nintendo DS's 3-D rendering capabilities to a greater extent than Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver, as shown in game footage of the player walking through the metropolis. A total of 156 new Pokémon were introduced, starting with Victini and ending with Genesect, bringing the franchise's total to 649. This is currently the only time that the number of Pokémon introduced surpasses the number introduced in the first generation. It also deployed new game mechanics such as the wireless interactivity features and the ability to upload game data to the Internet and to the player's own computer. Pokémon Black and White was released in Europe on March 4, 2011, in North America on March 6, 2011, and in Australia on March 10, 2011. On June 23, 2012, Nintendo released Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 in Japan for Nintendo DS, with early October releases in North America and Europe. Black 2 and White 2 are sequels to Black and White, with several events in the second games referencing events in the first; they also allow players to link their previous Black or White with their Black 2 or White 2, introducing several events based on how they played their previous game.
Generation 6  
Officially announced on January 8, 2013, and released simultaneously worldwide on October 12, 2013, Pokémon X and Y for the Nintendo 3DS are part of the sixth generation of games. Introducing the France-inspired Kalos region, these are the first Pokémon games rendered in 3D, and the first released worldwide together.
A total of 72 new Pokémon were introduced, starting with Chespin and ending with Volcanion, bringing the franchise's total to 721. The fewest new Pokémon in a single generation so far; however, the new Mega Evolution feature was added to the games to balance out the lack of new characters. Another addition was the Fairy typing, the first new type since Dark and Steel in the second generation. On May 7, 2014, Nintendo announced remakes of the third generation games Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire titled Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire which were released in Japan, North America, Australia, and South Korea on November 21, 2014, and in Europe on November 28, 2014.
Generation 7  
Officially announced on February 26, 2016, Pokémon Sun and Moon for the Nintendo 3DS are part of the seventh generation of games, and the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the franchise, introducing the Hawaii-inspired Alola region. Both games were released worldwide on November 18, 2016 in nine languages; Japanese, English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Korean, and, for the first time, Chinese . A total of 81 new Pokémon were introduced, bringing the total to 802. Though no new mega evolutions were added, a new type of form was added for specific pokémon, changing their types and move sets. A new type of move was added as well, called the Z-move. Usable by any Pokémon, Z-moves are extremely powerful and as such can only be used once per battle.
Game mechanics  
The main staple of the Pokémon video game series revolves around the catching and battling of Pokémon. Starting with a starter Pokémon, the player can catch wild Pokémon by weakening them and catching them with Poké Balls. Conversely, they can choose to defeat them in battle in order to gain experience for their Pokémon, raising their levels and teaching them new moves. Certain Pokémon can evolve into more powerful forms by raising their levels or using certain items. Throughout the game, players will have to battle other trainers in order to progress, with the main goal to defeat various Gym Leaders and earn the right to become a tournament champion. Subsequent games in the series have introduced various side games and side quests, including the Battle Frontiers that display unique battle types and the Pokémon Contests where visual appearance is put on display.
Starter Pokémon  
One of the consistent aspects of the Pokémon games—spanning from Pokémon Red and Blue on the Game Boy to the Nintendo 3DS games Pokémon Sun and Moon—is the choice of one of three different Pokémon at the start of the player's adventures; these three are often labeled "starter Pokémon". Players can choose a Grass-type, a Fire-type, or a Water-type. For example, in Pokémon Red and Blue, the player has the choice of starting with Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle. The exception to this rule is Pokémon Yellow, where players are given a Pikachu, an Electric-type mouse Pokémon, famous for being the mascot of the Pokémon media franchise; in this game, however, the three starter Pokémon from Red and Blue can be obtained during the quest by a single player, something that is not possible in any other installment of the franchise. Another consistent aspect is that the player's rival will always choose as his or her starter Pokémon the one that has a type advantage over the player's Pokémon. For instance, if the player picks a Grass-type Pokémon, the rival will always pick the Fire-type starter. An exception to this is again Pokémon Yellow, in which the rival picks an Eevee, but whether this Eevee evolves into Jolteon, Vaporeon, or Flareon is decided by when the player wins and loses to the rival through the journey. Pokémon Sun and Moon are also an exception where the rivial will pick the starter weak toward the players, with the remaining starter used elsewhere. The GameCube games Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness also contain an exception; whereas in most games the player's initial Pokémon starts at Level 5, in these two games the player's initial Pokémon starts at Levels 10 and 25, respectively. In Colosseum the player's starter Pokémon are Espeon and Umbreon, while in Gale of Darkness the player's starter is Eevee.
Pokédex  
The Pokédex is a fictional electronic device featured in the Pokémon video game and anime series. In the games, whenever a Pokémon is first captured, its data will be added to a player's Pokédex, but in the anime or manga, the Pokédex is a comprehensive electronic reference encyclopedia, usually referred to in order to deliver exposition. "Pokédex" is also used to refer to a list of Pokémon, usually a list of Pokémon by number. In the video games, a Pokémon Trainer is issued a blank device at the start of the journey. A trainer must then attempt to fill the Pokédex by encountering and at least briefly obtaining each of the different species of Pokémon. A player will receive the name and image of a Pokémon after encountering one that was not previously in the Pokédex, typically after battling said Pokémon either in the wild or in a trainer battle . In Pokémon Red and Blue, some Pokémon's data is added to the Pokédex simply by viewing the Pokémon, such as in the zoo outside of the Safari Zone. Also, certain NPC characters may add to the Pokédex by explaining what a Pokémon looks like during conversation. More detailed information is available after the player obtains a member of the species, either through capturing the Pokémon in the wild, evolving a previously captured Pokémon, hatching a Pokémon egg, or through a trade with another trainer . This information includes height, weight, species type, and a short description of the Pokémon. Later versions of the Pokédex have more detailed information, like the size of a certain Pokémon compared to the player character, or Pokémon being sorted by their habitat . The most current forms of Pokédex are capable of containing information on all Pokémon currently known. The GameCube games, Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, have a Pokémon Digital Assistant  which is similar to the Pokédex, but also tells what types are effective against a Pokémon and gives a description of its abilities.
In other media
Anime series  
The Pokémon anime series and films are a meta-series of adventures separate from the canon that most of the Pokémon video games follow . The anime follows the quest of the main character, Ash Ketchum, a Pokémon Master in training, as he and a small group of friends travel around the fictitious world of Pokémon along with their Pokémon partners. The original series, titled Pocket Monsters, or simply Pokémon in Western countries, begins with Ash's first day as a Pokémon trainer. His first  Pokémon is a Pikachu, differing from the games, where only Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle could be chosen. The series follows the storyline of the original games, Pokémon Red and Blue, in the region of Kanto. Accompanying Ash on his journeys are Brock, the Pewter City Gym Leader, and Misty, the youngest of the Gym Leader sisters from Cerulean City. Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands follows Ash's adventures in the Orange Islands, a place unique to the anime, and replaces Brock with Tracey Sketchit, an artist and "Pokémon watcher". The next series, based on the second generation of games, include Pokémon: Johto Journeys, Pokémon: Johto League Champions, and Pokémon: Master Quest, following the original trio of Ash, Brock, and Misty in the western Johto region.
The saga continues in Pokémon: Advanced, based on the third generation games. Ash and company travel to Hoenn, a southern region in the Pokémon World. Ash takes on the role of a teacher and mentor for a novice Pokémon trainer named May. Her brother Max accompanies them, and though he isn't a trainer, he knows large amounts of handy information. Brock  soon catches up with Ash, but Misty has returned to Cerulean City to tend to her duties as a gym leader . The Advanced series concludes with the Battle Frontier saga, based on the Emerald version and including aspects of FireRed and LeafGreen. It ended with Max leaving to pick his starter Pokémon and May going to the Grand Festival in Johto.
In the Diamond and Pearl series, based on the fourth generation games, Ash, Brock, and a new companion, an aspiring Pokémon coordinator named Dawn, travel through the region of Sinnoh. At the end of the series, Ash and Brock return to Kanto where Brock begins to follow his newfound dream of becoming a Pokémon doctor himself.
Pocket Monsters: Best Wishes!, based on the fifth generation games, features Ash and Pikachu traveling through the region of Unova  alongside two new companions, Iris and Cilan  who part ways with them after returning to Kanto.
, is the current airing series based on the sixth generation games, following Ash and Pikachu's journey through the region of Kalos, accompanied by Ash's childhood friend Serena and the siblings Clemont and Bonnie.
In addition to the TV series, nineteen Pokémon films have been made, with the pair of films, Pokémon the Movie: Black—Victini and Reshiram and White—Victini and Zekrom considered together as one. Collectible bonuses, such as promotional trading cards, have been available with some of the films. Various children's books, collectively known as Pokémon Junior, are also based on the anime.
Films  
Given release years are the original Japanese release years.
#Pokémon: The First Movie—Mewtwo Strikes Back
#Pokémon: The Movie 2000—The Power of One
#Pokémon 3: The Movie—Spell of the Unown
#Pokémon 4Ever—Celebi: Voice of the Forest
#Pokémon Heroes
#Pokémon: Jirachi Wish Maker
#Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys
#Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew
#Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea
#Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai
#Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior
#Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life
#Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions
#Pokémon the Movie: Black—Victini and Reshiram &Pokémon the Movie: White—Victini and Zekrom
#Pokémon the Movie: Kyurem vs. the Sword of Justice
#Pokémon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakened
#Pokémon the Movie: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction
#Pokémon the Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages
#Pokémon the Movie: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel
It was announced by The Hollywood Reporter that Warner Bros. Pictures, Sony Pictures and Legendary Pictures are in negotiations for a live action Pokémon movie. Deadline reports that Legendary are closing a deal for the film after Pokémon Go's success and will also make a live Detective Pikachu movie as well with Universal Pictures distributing outside Japan. Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsch are penning the script. Dean Israelite, Robert Rodriguez, Tim Miller, Mark A.Z. Dippé, Shane Acker and Chris Wedge were being considered as potential directors. Toho will distribute the film in Japan, while Universal Pictures will distribute it outside Japan. On November 30, 2016, Deadline reveals that Legendary Entertainment has chosen Rob Letterman to direct the film. It was announced that the film's titled will be called Pokémon's Detective Pikachu.
Soundtracks  
Pokémon CDs have been released in North America, most of them in conjunction with the theatrical releases of the first three Pokémon films. These releases were commonplace until late 2001. On March 27, 2007, a tenth anniversary CD was released containing 18 tracks from the English dub; this was the first English-language release in over five years. Soundtracks of the Pokémon feature films have been released in Japan each year in conjunction with the theatrical releases.
The exact date of release is unknown.
Pokémon Trading Card Game  
The Pokémon Trading Card Game is a collectible card game with a goal similar to a Pokémon battle in the video game series. Players use Pokémon cards, with individual strengths and weaknesses, in an attempt to defeat their opponent by "knocking out" his or her Pokémon cards. The game was first published in North America by Wizards of the Coast in 1999. However, with the release of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Game Boy Advance video games, The Pokémon Company took back the card game from Wizards of the Coast and started publishing the cards themselves.
Manga  
There are various Pokémon manga series, four of which were released in English by Viz Media, and seven of them released in English by Chuang Yi. The manga series vary from game-based series to being based on the anime and the TCG. Original stories have also been published. As there are several series created by different authors most Pokémon manga series differ greatly from each other and other media, such as the anime. Pokémon Pocket Monsters and Pokémon Adventures are the only two manga never stopped since the first generation.
Manga released in English
The Electric Tale of Pikachu, a shōnen manga created by Toshihiro Ono. It was divided into four tankōbon, each given a separate title in the North American and English Singapore versions: The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Pikachu Shocks Back, Electric Pikachu Boogaloo, and Surf's Up, Pikachu. The series is based loosely on the anime.
Pokémon Adventures  by Hidenori Kusaka, Mato, and Satoshi Yamamoto, the most popular Pokémon manga based on the video games. The story series around the Pokémon Trainers who called "Pokédex holders".
Magical Pokémon Journey, a shōjo manga
Pikachu Meets the Press
Ash & Pikachu
Pokémon Gold & Silver
Pokémon Ruby-Sapphire and Pokémon Pocket Monsters
Pokémon: Jirachi Wish Maker
Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys
Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew
Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure!
Pokémon Adventures: Diamond and Pearl / Platinum
Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai
Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior
Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life
Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions
Pokémon The Movie: White: Victini and Zekrom
Pokémon Black and White
Manga not released in English
Pokémon Pocket Monsters by Kosaku Anakubo, the first Pokémon manga. It is chiefly a gag manga series stars a Pokémon Trainer named Red, his rude Clefairy, and Pikachu.
Pokémon Card ni Natta Wake  by Kagemaru Himeno, an artist for the TCG. There are six volumes and each includes a special promotional card. The stories tell the tales of the art behind some of Himeno's cards.
Pokémon Get aa ze! by Miho Asada
Pocket Monsters Chamo-Chamo ★ Pretty ♪ by Yumi Tsukirino, who also made Magical Pokémon Journey.
Pokémon Card Master
Pocket Monsters Emerald Chōsen!! Battle Frontier by Ihara Shigekatsu
Pocket Monsters Zensho by Satomi Nakamura
Monopoly  
A Monopoly board game was released in August 2014.
Criticism and controversy
Morality and religious beliefs  
Pokémon has been criticized by some Christians over perceived occult and violent themes and the concept of "Pokémon evolution", which they feel goes against the Biblical creation account in Genesis. However, Sat2000, a satellite television station based in Vatican City, has countered that the Pokémon Trading Card Game and video games are "full of inventive imagination" and have no "harmful moral side effects". In the United Kingdom, the "Christian Power Cards" game was introduced in 1999 by David Tate who stated, "Some people aren't happy with Pokémon and want an alternative, others just want Christian games." The game was similar to the Pokémon TCG but used Biblical figures.
In 1999, Nintendo stopped manufacturing the Japanese version of the "Koga's Ninja Trick" trading card because it depicted a manji, a traditionally Buddhist symbol with no negative connotations. The Jewish civil rights group Anti-Defamation League complained because the symbol is the reverse of a swastika, which is considered offensive to Jewish people. The cards were intended for sale in Japan only, but the popularity of Pokémon led to importation into the United States with approval from Nintendo. The Anti-Defamation League understood that the issue symbol was not intended to offend and acknowledged the sensitivity that Nintendo showed by removing the product.
In 1999, two nine-year-old boys from Merrick, New York sued Nintendo because they claimed the Pokémon Trading Card Game caused their problematic gambling.
In 2001, Saudi Arabia banned Pokémon games and cards, alleging that the franchise promoted Zionism by displaying the Star of David in the trading cards  as well as other religious symbols such as crosses they associated with Christianity and triangles they associated with Freemasonry; the games also involved gambling, which is in violation of Muslim doctrine.
Pokémon has also been accused of promoting materialism.
Animal cruelty  
In 2012, PETA publicly criticized the concept of Pokémon as supporting cruelty to animals. PETA compared the game's concept, of capturing animals and forcing them to fight, to cockfights, dog fighting rings and circuses, all events frequently criticized for cruelty to animals. PETA released a game spoofing Pokémon where the Pokémon battle their trainers to win their freedom. PETA reaffirmed their objections in 2016 with the release of Pokémon Go, promoting the hashtag #GottaFreeThemAll.
Health  
flashing' colors, stills will not blind people!-->
On December 16, 1997, more than 635 Japanese children were admitted to hospitals with epileptic seizures. It was determined the seizures were caused by watching an episode of Pokémon "Dennō Senshi Porygon", ; as a result, this episode has not been aired since. In this particular episode, there were bright explosions with rapidly alternating blue and red color patterns. It was determined in subsequent research that these strobing light effects cause some individuals to have epileptic seizures, even if the person had no previous history of epilepsy. This incident is a common focus of Pokémon-related parodies in other media, and was lampooned by the Simpsons episode "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" and the South Park episode "Chinpokomon", among others.
Monster in My Pocket  
In March 2000, Morrison Entertainment Group, a small toy developer based at Manhattan Beach, California, sued Nintendo over claims that Pokémon infringed on its own Monster in My Pocket characters. A judge ruled there was no infringement, so Morrison appealed the ruling.On February 4, 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the decision by the District Court to dismiss the suit.
Pokémon Go  
Within its first two days of release, Pokémon Go raised safety concerns among players.  Multiple people also suffered minor injuries from falling while playing the game due to being distracted.
Multiple police departments in various countries have issued warnings, some tongue-in-cheek, regarding inattentive driving, trespassing, and being targeted by criminals due to being unaware of one's surroundings. People have suffered various injuries from accidents related to the game, and Bosnian players have been warned to stay out of minefields left over from the 1990s Bosnian War. On July 20, 2016, it was reported that a 18-year-old boy in Chiquimula, Guatemala was shot and killed while playing the game in the late evening hours. This was the first reported death in connection with the app. The boy's 17-year-old cousin, who was accompanying the victim, was shot in the foot. Police speculated that the shooters used the game's GPS capability to find the two.
Cultural influence
Pokémon, being a globally popular franchise, has left a significant mark on today's pop culture. The Pokémon characters themselves have become pop culture icons; examples include two different Pikachu balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Pokémon Jets operated by All Nippon Airways, thousands of merchandise items, and a traveling theme park that was in Nagoya, Japan in 2005 and in Taipei in 2006. Pokémon also appeared on the cover of the U.S. magazine Time in 1999. The Comedy Central show Drawn Together has a character named Ling-Ling who is a direct parody of Pikachu. Several other shows such as ReBoot, The Simpsons, South Park, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Robot Chicken, All Grown Up!, and Johnny Test have made references and spoofs of Pokémon, among other series. Pokémon was also featured on VH1's I Love the '90s: Part Deux. A live action show called Pokémon Live! toured the United States in late 2000. It was based on the popular Pokémon anime, but had some continuity errors relating to it. Jim Butcher cites Pokémon as one of the inspirations for the Codex Alera series of novels.
In November 2001, Nintendo opened a store called the Pokémon Center in New York, in New York's Rockefeller Center, modeled after the two other Pokémon Center stores in Tokyo and Osaka and named after a staple of the videogame series; Pokémon Centers are fictional buildings where Trainers take their injured Pokémon to be healed after combat. The store sold Pokémon merchandise on a total of two floors, with items ranging from collectible shirts to stuffed Pokémon plushies. The store also featured a Pokémon Distributing Machine in which players would place their game to receive an egg of a Pokémon that was being given out at that time. The store also had tables that were open for players of the Pokémon Trading Card Game to duel each other or an employee. The store was closed and replaced by the Nintendo World Store on May 14, 2005. Three Pokémon Center kiosks were put in malls in Washington, with one in Tacoma and one in Seattle currently remaining. The Pokémon Center online store was relaunched on August 6, 2014.
Joseph Jay Tobin theorizes that the success of the franchise was mainly due to the long list of names that could be learned by children and repeated in their peer groups. The rich fictional universe provided a lot of opportunities for discussion and demonstration of knowledge in front of their peers. In the French version Nintendo took care to translate the name of the creatures so that they reflected the French culture and language. In all cases the names of the creatures were linked to its characteristics, which converged with the children's belief that names have symbolic power. Children could pick their favourite Pokémon and affirm their individuality while at the same time affirming their conformance to the values of the group, and they could distinguish themselves from other kids by asserting what they liked and what they didn't like from every chapter. Pokémon gained popularity because it provided a sense of identity to a wide variety of children, and lost it quickly when many of those children found that the identity groups were too big and searched for identities that would distinguish them into smaller groups.
Pokémons history has been marked at times by rivalry with the Digimon media franchise that debuted at a similar time. Described as "the other 'mon by IGN's Juan Castro, Digimon has not enjoyed Pokémons level of international popularity or success, but has maintained a dedicated fanbase. IGN's Lucas M. Thomas stated that Pokémon is Digimons "constant competition and comparison", attributing the former's relative success to the simplicity of its evolution mechanic as opposed to Digivolution. The two have been noted for conceptual and stylistic similarities by sources such as GameZone. A debate among fans exists over which of the two franchises came first. In actuality, the first Pokémon media, Pokémon Red and Green, were released initially on February 27, 1996; whereas the Digimon virtual pet was released on June 26, 1997.
Fan community  
While Pokémon's target demographic is young boys, early purchasers of the latest games, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, were in their 20's. Many fans are adults who originally played the games as children and later returned to the series.
Bulbapedia, a wiki-based encyclopedia associated with longtime fan site Bulbagarden, is the "Internet's most detailed Pokémon database project".
A significant community around the Pokémon video games' metagame has existed for a long time, analyzing the best ways to use each Pokémon to their full potential in competitive battles. The most prolific competitive community is Smogon University, which has created a widely accepted tier-based battle system.
In early 2014, an anonymous video streamer on Twitch launched Twitch Plays Pokémon, an experiment trying to crowdsource playing subsequent Pokémon games starting with Pokémon Red.
A challenge called the Nuzlocke Challenge was created in order for older players of the series to enjoy Pokémon again, but with a twist. When a Pokémon faints it is considered "dead" and must be released or stored in the PC permanently. If the player blacks out/whites out the game is considered over and the player must restart. The original idea only consisted of 2 to 3 rules that the community has since built upon. There are many fan made Pokémon games made that contains a game mode similar to the Nuzlocke Challenge, such as Pokémon Uranium.
An online Pokémon game was created called Pokémon Showdown, in which players create a team and battle against other players around the world.
See also
List of Pokémon
List of Pokémon chapters
List of Pokémon characters
List of Pokémon episodes
List of Pokémon video games
Pokémon episodes removed from rotation
References
Tobin, Joseph, ed. . Pikachu's Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon. Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-3287-6.
External links


Bibliography:
Wikipedia
@baygross

Summary ECOLOGY BIOB50 - MILLON and Group Sparrow Hawk- UTSC Uoft scarborough

The research study conducted by Millon and group was a long term study which focuses on the growth rate of Eurasian sparrow hawk and their prey community composition.  The main purposes of this study was to determine whether there are changes in the composition of the prey community by analyzing temporal trends within the prey community of the sparrow hawk and how these changes resonate into the dynamics of the sparrow hawk population (Millon 2009). They conducted this study in a vast area in Denmark and visited the breeding areas one to five times annually during the time of breeding (Millon 2009). Then they identified the females who are breeding and aged them using the features of their feathers. Then the researchers obtained the mean temperatures from the meteorological stations and the average temperature of three coldest months in winter and early spring. These periods were assumed the most critical for sparrohawks (Millon 2009).  The diet of the predator was then analyzed during the breeding season and their diet mainly consisted of black bird and skylark. During the years of study, as the abundance of these two main prey species increased, the diet diversity of sparrowhawk decreased (Millon 2009). But then the abundance of these two population decreased during the winter and then the sparrowhawk population also started to declined. The analysis then shows us that the winter climate, and also the prey availability contributes to the population growth and decline of the sparrowhawk population. Prey vulnerability to predation differs according to coloration, behavior, parasite load of prey and can also be altered by changes in habitat structure due to farming practice (Millon 2009). The changes on the composition of these avian prey community shows the variation of prey abundance on predators (Millon 2009). During the mid 80’s when the population of black birds and skylark declined drastically during the harsh winter, the population of the sparrowhawks also started facing a decline in population. Harsh winter climates affecting both the predators and prey species made hunting, food gathering and the maintenance of physiological processed very challenging. Also the data observed during the study explains how the both and predator and prey abundance depends on each other (Millon 2009). In 1987 the skylark population hit rock bottom while black bird population persisted which caused a severe decline in the sparrowhawk population for a brief period and then recovered. Also the use of organochlorine pesticide lead to a decline in sparrowhawk population. “The number of sparrowhawks in the study area fell from 51 to 38 pairs between 1978 – 82” (Millon 2009). This pesticide killed the adult sparrows directly before breeding. The combined effect of predation along with the harsh environmental stressors had been predicted to drive the skylarks to small numbers (Millon 2009). Also the intra-guild predation between northern Goshawk also bought down the growth rate. Northern Goshawk also regularly prey over other raptors including sparrowhawks. Finally, the study revealed that 

BIOB51 University Of Toronto MIDTERM REVIEW AND PRACTICE QUESTIONS

BIOB51 Midterm 2 Review

End of Chapter Textbook Questions (Assigned in Lecture)

Chapter 1

5.         The idea behind multidrug therapy for HIV is to increase the number of mutations required for resistance and thus reduce genetic variation in the viral population for survival in the presence of drugs. Could we achieve the same effect by using antiretroviral drugs in sequence instead of simultaneously? Why or why not?

No, we could not achieve the same result if we administer the drugs in a sequence. The unfortunate result would likely be development of resistance to all the drugs. This is because the HIV population would only have to develop resistance for one drug at a time, which is quite easy for it to do. The key to multiple drug therapy is that the drugs are given simultaneously, so that HIV virions must have four or five simultaneous mutations (one for each drug) to survive. Even with HIV's high mutation rate and large population size, the simultaneous occurrence of multiple resistance mutations in one virion is unlikely.

17.       Question 5 concerned treating HIV by using multiple drugs sequentially instead of simultaneously. For a clinical trial comparing these strategies, see: Gulick, R. M., J. W. Mellors, et al. 1998. Simultaneous vs sequential initiation of therapy with Indinavir, Zidovudine, and Lamivudine for HIV-1 infection: 100-week follow-up. JAMA 280: 35.

Chapter 2

2. Consider the experiment described in Section 2.1 in which Ted Garland and colleagues bred mice to run long distances on exercise wheels. We presented the results as evidence that two dozen generations of selective breeding had altered the experimental population. How does the control strain support this interpretation? If Garland had simply compared the behavior of the 24th experimental generation to the behavior of the first experimental generation, would the evidence for evolution be as strong? Explain.

Strong evidence of evolution is seen in the results that come from selective breeding. In the Garland et al. experiment on mice, microevolution could be observed after only 24 generations of selection. The experimental design and procedure was designed to measure the effect of selection and the change of the population. From a large population of mice, the researchers chose high-runner lines and control lines, each with 10 mated pairs. They needed to keep track of each generation in the experiment, because they selected a male and female which run the greatest distance, to produce the next generation. On the contrary, the control strains had male and female pairs chosen at random in each generation. Female mice from the selected lineages ran almost three times faster than the control mice. This is direct evidence that population and species change over time.

Chapter 3

8(Part 1). Describe three major objections to Darwin’s theory in the 19th century that were eventually resolved by discoveries by other scientists in the 20th century.

Three major objections to Darwin's theory in the 19th century were: there is not enough variability for evolution to continue for very long; new traits would disappear by "blending" with other traits; and, the earth's temperature implies that the earth is too young for evolution to have occurred. These were resolved by the discoveries, respectively, of mutation, genes, and radioactivity.

Chapter 4

9. What is homoplasy? Why does homoplasy make it more challenging to estimate evolutionary history?

Homoplasy is defined as a similarity in traits that is not due to inheritance (not derived) from a common ancestor. Homoplasy is misleading because it makes species that are not closely related appear as if they are closely related. If the genetic and developmental basis of a morphological trait is known, then researchers can distinguish homology from homoplasy. Morphological traits can also be measured in fossil species. Compared to morphological traits, DNA sequence data are relatively easy to acquire in large amounts, but can be subject to extensive homoplasy.

Chapter 5

17. Chromosome number can evolve by smaller-scale changes than duplication of entire chromosome sets. For example, domestic horses have 64 chromosomes per diploid set while Przewalski’s horse, an Asian subspecies, has 66. Przewalski’s horse is thought to have evolved from an ancestor with 2n = 64 chromosomes. The question is: Where did its extra chromosome pair originate? It seems unlikely that an entirely new chromosome pair was created from scratch in Przewalski’s horse. To generate a hypothesis explaining the origin of the new chromosome in Przewalski’s horse, examine the adjacent figure. The drawing at right shows how certain chromosomes synapse in the hybrid offspring of a domestic horse–Przewalski’s horse mating (Short et al. 1974). The remaining chromosomes show a normal 1:1 pairing. Do you think this sort of gradual change in chromosome number involves a change in the actual number of genes present?

The most likely explanation is that the long chromosome found in domestic horses split into two pieces in the ancestor of Przewalski's horse. If the two smaller segments still synapse with the long chromosome during matings between hybrids, then it is likely that gene number and order is unchanged.

20. Figure 5.12 presented evidence that people with certain genotypes for the serotonin transporter gene are more sensitive to maltreatment during childhood. For an exploration of possible benefits associated with the sensitive genotype, see: Homberg, J. R., and K. P. Lesch. 2011. Looking on the bright side of serotonin transporter gene variation. Biological Psychiatry 69: 513–519.

Chapter 6

1. List the five conditions that must be true for a population to be in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. Why is it useful to know the conditions that prevent evolution? For each condition, specify whether violation of that assumption results in changes in genotype frequencies, allele frequencies, or both.

The five conditions are: no selection, no mutation, no migration, no chance events (also can be stated as infinite population size, or no genetic drift), and random mating. Violation of selection, mutation, migration, and/or chance events will result in changes in allele frequencies and genotype frequencies in the population. Violation of random mating—but not the others—will result in changes in genotype frequencies but not in allele frequencies.

Textbook Questions (Assigned in Tutorial)

Chapter 3

1.      In everyday English, the word adaptation means an adjustment to environmental conditions. How is the evolutionary definition of adaptation different from the everyday English sense?

The everyday meaning of "adaptation" refers to a change that occurs in a single individual's lifetime, while the evolutionary meaning refers to a trait that has developed via natural selection over many generations. An evolutionary adaptation is also defined strictly in terms of relative reproductive fitness, while the everyday meaning can refer to changes that do not necessarily affect reproduction

2.      a. Describe Darwin’s four postulates in your own words. What would have happened in the snapdragon experiment if any of the four had not been true? b. If Darwin’s four postulates are true for a given population, is there any way that evolution cannot happen? What does this imply about whether evolution is or is not occurring in most populations today?

a.       The four postulates are, briefly: variation exists, the variation is heritable, survival and reproduction are not equal, and survival and reproduction are not random. In the snapdragon experiment, if there had been no variation, all flowers would have been the same color. If variation had not been heritable, the colors of the best-reproducing plants would not have been passed to their offspring. If there had not been unequal survival and reproduction, all plants would have attracted equal numbers of bees and produced equal numbers of seeds. If survival and reproduction had been random, some plants would have had more bee visits and produced more seeds than other plants, but the difference would not be related to plant color. In any of these four cases, the snapdragon population would not have evolved. 

b.      If the four postulates are true, a population is virtually certain to evolve unless selection is extremely weak and genetic drift is very strong. Since the four postulates are almost always true, virtually all populations of organisms are evolving today, at least with regard to some genetic loci.

4.      According to the text, it is correct to claim that most finches died from starvation during the 1977 drought because “there was a strong correspondence between population size and seed availability.” Do you accept this hypothesis? If so, why don’t the data in Figure 3.13 show a perfect correspondence between when seed supply started falling and when population size started to drop?

The claim that the vanished finches probably died of starvation is certainly reasonable given the data in Figure 3.13 and the absence of obvious other causes such as increased predation or disease. The graphs in Figure 3.13 show that most small, soft seeds disappeared between about July and October of 1976, the same time that the bird population began to decline. Seeds were still abundant at first, but they were predominantly large seeds. Then, even the large seeds began disappearing, and the bird population continued to decline sharply. The birds did not all die instantaneously because it takes time for an animal to starve to death, and some individuals were likely able to scratch for the few remaining small seeds for several months before succumbing to starvation.

5.      A common creationist criticism of the finch study is, “But it’s just a little change in beak shape. Nothing really new has evolved.” Or put a different way, “It’s just microevolution and not macroevolution.” The finch team continues to spend a great deal of effort on their project— traveling thousands of miles to the remote Galápagos every year, just to try to band an entire population of birds and all their nestlings and measure their bills. How would you respond to the creationists’ criticisms? Do you think the ongoing 30-year-effort of the finch bill project has been worthwhile? Is it useful to try to document microevolution, and does it tell us anything about how macroevolution might work?

Many answers are possible. Though it may be "just" microevolution, the shape of a bird's bill is not a minor feature for the bird—it is the bird's one and only food-handling tool. Furthermore, microevolution and macroevolution are not a dichotomy, macroevolution is simply microevolution carried out for a long time. The changes that most laypeople would consider "macroevolution" typically require hundreds of thousands of years to evolve, so it is not logical to expect to observe them in a single field study. Evolutionary biologists generally regard long-term studies of microevolution as highly informative for learning how natural selection happens in a natural environment, and for a close-up look at the causes of small changes that, eventually, can add up to macroevolution.

Chapter 4

5.      What is a synapomorphy?

Synapomorphy is a characteristic that is shared by two or more species and also derived. This means that it was modified in a common ancestor and then inherited by the descendant species.

9.   What is homoplasy? Why does homoplasy make it more challenging to estimate evolutionary history?

Homoplasy is defined as a similarity in traits that is not due to inheritance (not derived) from a common ancestor. Homoplasy is misleading because it makes species that are not closely related appear as if they are closely related. If the genetic and developmental basis of a morphological trait is known, then researchers can distinguish homology from homoplasy. Morphological traits can also be measured in fossil species. Compared to morphological traits, DNA sequence data are relatively easy to acquire in large amounts, but can be subject to extensive homoplasy.

Chapter 5

1.    What is the difference between genetic variation, environmental variation, and genotype-by-environment interaction? Give examples of each. Try to think of potential examples not covered in this chapter.

Genetic variation is based on differences in alleles (versions of a gene) and ultimately the entire genomes, among the individuals. Genetic variation is necessary for evolution, since these differences are encoded and transmitted from one generation to the next. For example, genetic variation in a blood type gene in humans, results in four different phenotypes. In this case, three different alleles of one gene are: I A, I B, i (where I A and IB are codominant, while allele i is recessive to either one). Different combinations of these alleles produce four possible phenotypes: A, B, AB and O blood types, with different frequencies in different parts of the world. 

Environmental variation is based on the differences produced when same genotypes are exposed to different environments. This usually happens because certain environments might alter gene expression. For example one genotype in a species of plants, often produces different sizes of mature plants, when grown in the different altitudes or with different soil nutrients. Similarly, dark pigmentation on the tips of ears and paws of Siamese cats develops in certain latitudes with colder temperatures. Many additional examples of traits that could vary a great deal under environmental changes are found in quantitative traits. 

Genotype by environment variation is based on both differences in the genomes and ways that environment affects the phenotypes. When one genotype develops different phenotypes in different environments, we could say that this genotype exhibits phenotypic plasticity. For example, a change from asexual to sexual reproduction, based on the amount of nutrients, predation or parasitism. Phenotypic plasticity can also evolve.

5.      Consider the nucleotide sequence TGACTAACGGCT. Transcribe this sequence into mRNA. Use the genetic code to translate it into a string of amino acids. Give an example of a point mutation, an insertion, a deletion, a frameshift mutation, a synonymous substitution, a nonsynonymous substitution, and a nonsense mutation. Which of your examples seem likely to dramatically influence protein.

Example answer: 
DNA: TGACTAACGGCT 
RNA: ACUGAUUGCCGA 

Polypeptide: Threonine-Aspartic Acid-Cysteine-Arginine 

A point mutation, such as T to G in the DNA strand, gives CCU for the first codon and that would replace amino acid threonine with proline. 

An insertion or a deletion would cause a frame-shift. For example, a deletion in DNA: TGACTAACGGCT, leaves mRNA sequence as: ACGAUUGCCGA and the polypeptide would be: 
Threonine-Isoleucine-Cysteine. Duplication/insertion of a single base also causes a frameshift, since each codon has three bases. This also affects the rest of the sequence. 

If the polypeptide change remains the same due to a change where DNA has one base-pair change, yet same amino acid remains in its place, we use the term synonymous substitution. For example ACU codes for Threonine, but if there is a silent substitution of ACU to ACC, ACG or ACA, the amino acid will remain in its place. The protein will function the same, with such mutation. A silent site mutation does not change the amino acid specified by a codon; a replacement mutation does. 

If there is a substitution of one amino acid to another, due to the base-pair change in DNA and RNA, we use the term non-synonymous substitution. 

A nonsense mutation will bring a stop codon, instead of an amino acid. Example is UUA for Leucine, might become a stop codon with one base change (UGA). Nonsense mutations probably affect the carrier most dramatically, because they do not allow polypeptide chain to grow.

7.      How many redheads live in a village of 250 people, where the frequency of red hair is 0.18?

If there are 250 people in the village and 18% of them have red hair, there are 45 red heads in the village.

15. Suppose a silent mutation occurs in an exon that is part of the gene for TAS2R38 in a human. Has a new allele been created? Defend your answer.

A silent mutation in the gene for TAS2R38 in human would create a new allele, because the DNA sequence will be different, yet it might not have any phenotypic effects, if the amino acids that are responsible for tasting PTC remain the same.

Chapter 6

1.      List the five conditions that must be true for a population to be in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. Why is it useful to know the conditions that prevent evolution? For each condition, specify whether violation of that assumption results in changes in genotype frequencies, allele frequencies, or both.

The five conditions are: no selection, no mutation, no migration, no chance events (also can be stated as infinite population size, or no genetic drift), and random mating. Violation of selection, mutation, migration, and/or chance events will result in changes in allele frequencies and genotype frequencies in the population. Violation of random mating—but not the others—will result in changes in genotype frequencies but not in allele frequencies.

2.     Why was it important that G. H. Hardy used variables in his mathematical treatment of changes in population allele frequencies across generations? Would it have been equally useful to simply work several more examples with different specific allele frequencies?

The use of variables allowed Hardy to prove the general case: that—given the five assumptions—any allele frequencies will stay in equilibrium. Before this proof, it was not intuitively clear to most people that the specific allele frequencies did not matter. As is often the case, general proofs expressed mathematically can reveal important patterns that were not always intuitively obvious beforehand.

3.    Name the phenomenon being described in each of these (hypothetical) examples, and describe how it is likely to affect allele frequencies in succeeding generations.

A) Migration followed by natural selection. The frequency of the T allele is likely to increase rapidly. 

B) Migration followed by natural selection. The frequency of the T allele may increase, but only slowly, and perhaps not at all, due to the rarity of the T allele and the weakness of selection. 

C) Frequency-dependent selection. The frequency of small males is likely to gravitate toward a stable equilibrium frequency, at which small and large males have identical fitness. 

D) Under dominance. One allele will very likely go to fixation, and the other allele will be lost. Which allele is lost is likely to depend on where the initial allele frequencies are, relative to the unstable equilibrium point. 

E) Heterozygote superiority, or over dominance. The frequency of the m allele is likely to gravitate toward a stable equilibrium frequency.

OA

1.      An entire village of 500 people were tested for sensitivity for bitter-tasting foods. How many people are non-tasters where frequency of non-tasters in this population is 0.29?

500 x 0.29 = 145

2.      If a mutational change occurs in the normal sequence 5' - ATTATACACAGAGAGTTT -3' to change it to  5'- ATTATACACAGAGTTT -3' which term best describes the mutation or possible cause?

Deletion of AG

3.      Use the table to answer the question. Which of the following is the outgroup?

Presence (1) or Absence (0) of Hox Genes

	Hox1	Hox2	Hox3	Hox4	Hox12
Mouse	1	1	1	1	1
Snail	1	1	1	1	0
Flatworm	1	1	1	1	0
Sea anemone	1	1	0	0	0
Sponge	0	0	0	0	0

Sponge

4.      The Hardy-Weinberg term p gives:

Allele frequency

5.      Black colour in horses is governed by homozygosity of the recessive allele at the A locus: black coloured horses have aa while horses with other nonblack colours may be AA or Aa at the same locus. Assuming the alleles are at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, what best describes the genotype frequency of black horses in a population of Arabian horses? 2pq?

6.       Which of the following phrases best fits the term SNP?

Two different nucleotides appear at the same position in genomic DNA from different individuals

7.      Socially parasitic ants form a group that includes S. daguerrei, the ancestor of socially parasitic species and all its descendents: ____ .

Clade

8.      The S . saevissima species group contains socially polymorphic species which form a ____ group.

Monophyletic

9.      At the level of the species, the mtDNA phylogeny excludes some of the ancestors of this group: it is a _______ group.

Polyphyletic

10.  A _______ based on morphological characters, is an evolutionary hypothesis for the relationships between the S. saevissima species.

Phylogeny

11.  This study confirmed that ___ originated once among these ants.

Polygyny (multiple queens)

12.  Among ______ S. invicta ants there are some colonies that accept only one queen and other colonies that accept multiple queens

Socially polymorphic

13.  Choose all that apply to complete the sentence. Examples of homoplasy include _____ .

	A.	Spots on leopard geckos and leopards
	B.	Streamlined bodies in dolphins and ichthyosaurs
	D.	Bobbed tails in bobcats and lynx
	F.	Eyes on the top of the head in caiman and hippos

14.  Researchers studied snapdragon plants and their bumblebee pollinators. The researchers found that after two generations white-flowered snapdragon plants had higher reproductive success than did yellow-flowered snapdragon plants. Which of the following statements about the role of bumblebees should form part of their conclusion?

Bumblebees are the agents of selection: they chose to pollinate the white-flowered plants and this resulted in higher reproductive success for the white flowered snapdragons.

15.  Choose the best option to complete the sentence. If an adaptation is a product of natural selection the trait will __________.

be a heritable trait that raises the fitness of individuals more than any other trait that has appeared in the species over evolutionary time.

16.  Homozygosity at the recessive a locus gives albinism in whales. Researchers counted the number of albino and the number of normally pigmented whales in a population. The number of normally pigmented whales divided by the total population gives:

Phenotype frequency

1/15 ;2pq

17.  Go to OMIM (see link in OA1 folder) type in 602421 to go to Cystic Fibrosis. Scroll down on the 602421 cystic fibrosis page to find "Allelic Variants" .0001 and find the information needed to identify which of the options below would best complete the following sentence. In the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec De Braekeleer estimates that the carrier rate is  ____ which would correspond to ____ if the population is at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

18.  On an island there are many cats with short tails. The alleles for tailless are tightly linked to a short tandem repeat DNA marker. Researchers sampled 150 cats identifying 60 homozygous for the wildtype 6-repeat STR; 90 short-tailed cats that were heterozygous for the wildtype 6-repeat STR allele but they did not find any cats homozygous for the 10- repeat STR allele associated with tailless. What are the genotype frequencies in this population? HINT: write out the genotypes. Chose all the answers that apply.

	a.	0.4 (6,6)
	b.	0.6 (6,6)
	c.	0.16 (10,10)
	d.	0.4 (10,6)
	e.	0.4 (10,10)
	f.	0.6 (10,6)

Chapter 8

7. How can you identify an allele that has experienced recent strong positive selection?    

Ans)  Loci that have been under recent positive selection will usually be in linkage disequilibrium with nearby neutral markers (indicate an allele of young age), and will be at relatively high frequency for the allele's age.  

8.  Populations of rats exposed to the poison warfarin rapidly evolve resistance. The gene for warfarin resistance is located on rat chromosome 1. Michael Kohn and colleagues (2000) surveyed rats in five German rat populations known to vary in their recent exposure to warfarin and in their resistance. The researchers determined the genotype of each rat at a number of marker loci near the warfarin resistance gene. For each population, the researchers calculated the average heterozygosity (H) among the marker loci, the fraction of loci that were out of Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE), and the fraction of marker–locus pairs that were in linkage disequilibrium (LD). Their results appear in Figure 8.32. Based on these graphs, rank the five populations in order, from lowest to highest, for exposure to warfarin and resistance. Explain your reasoning.    

Ans) Strong positive selection tends to cause high linkage disequilibrium and tends to lower heterozygosity. Therefore we can deduce that the x-axis must start with low resistance on the left, and go to high resistance on the right. The most resistant population should be WU, and the least resistant should be LH

This deduction is correct: the most resistant rat population is WU, followed by BK, PS, HT, and LH. In the original graphs, the x-axis goes from 0% resistance on the left to 100% resistance on the right.

Chapter 9

1. Degree of antisocial behavior is a quantitative trait in human males. Avshalon Caspi and colleagues (2002) used data on several hundred men to investigate the relationship between antisocial behavior and two factors. The first factor was genotype at the locus that encodes the enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAOA). MAOA acts in the brain, where it breaks down a variety of the neurotransmitters nerve cells use to communicate with each other. The gene for MAOA is located on the X chromosome. Due to genetic differences in the gene’s promoter, some men have low MAOA activity and others have high MAOA activity. The second factor was the experience of maltreatment during childhood. Based on a variety of evidence, the researchers determined whether each man had experienced no maltreatment, probable maltreatment, or severe maltreatment. The data are summarized in Figure 9.34.

a. Is the variation among men in antisocial behavior at least partly due to differences in genotype? Explain.

b. Is the variation among men in antisocial behavior at least partly due to differences in environment? Explain.

c. Do men with different genotypes respond the same way to changes in the environment? Explain.

d. Is antisocial behavior heritable? Explain.

e. Do these data influence your opinion about how men who exhibit antisocial behavior should be treated

and/or punished?                               

Ans) A) The figure shows that variation in antisocial behavior is correlated with differences in genotype. It is possible that the correlation is due to some other factor (for example, certain genotypes may be more common in certain ethnic groups, which may be exposed to certain environments). However, if we leave that possibility aside, we can tentatively conclude that MAOA genotype is associated with antisocial behavior.

B) Yes, because different levels of childhood maltreatment (an environmental condition) are associated with different levels of antisocial behavior. If there were no effect of environment, both lines would have a slope of 0 (parallel to the x-axis).

C) Men with different genotypes respond in the same direction: for men in both MAOA categories, increased maltreatment is associated with heightened antisocial behavior. However, the strength of this effect is different in the two groups. Men with the low MAOA activity genotype appear more strongly influenced by environment than are men with the high MAOA activity genotype. The line for men with low MAOA activity has a greater (steeper) slope than the line for men with high MAOA activity, indicating a stronger effect of the environment factor on the x-axis.

D) Yes. This means simply that some of the variation in antisocial behavior is attributable to genotype.

E) The answer to this question is left to the reader.

4. Suppose you are telling your roommate that you learned in biology class that within any given human population, height is highly heritable. Your roommate, who is studying nutrition, says, “That doesn’t make sense, because just a few centuries ago most people were shorter than they are now, clearly because of diet. If most variation in human height is due to genes, how could diet make such a big difference?” Your roommate is obviously correct that poor diet can dramatically affect height. How do you explain this apparent paradox to your roommate?      

Ans) High heritability within a population does not mean that variation between populations is due to genetic differences. If the populations differ in an environmental factor, the variation between populations can be due entirely to environment. In this case, your roommate is comparing height between two populations (a medieval population versus a modern population) that differ in dietary environment.

5. Now consider heritability in more general terms. Suppose heritability is extremely high for a certain trait in a certain population.

a. First, can the trait be strongly affected by the environment despite the high heritability value? To answer this question, suppose that all the individuals within a certain population have been exposed all their lives to the same level of a critical environmental factor. Will the heritability value reflect the fact that the environment is very important?

b. Second, can the heritability value change if the environment changes? To answer this question, imagine that the critical environmental factor changes such that different individuals are now exposed to different levels of this environmental factor. What happens to variation in the trait in the whole population? What happens to the heritability value?       

Ans)   A) Yes, the trait may be strongly affected by environment. But no matter how important the environment could potentially be, if there is little variation in environment, the heritability value will typically be very high.

B) Heritability values will often change if the environment changes. Typically, if a formerly invariant environment begins to change, heritability values will decrease.

 Chapter 10 questions

4. What is an evolutionary trade-off? Why do they occur? Give two examples. How does the occurrence of tradeoffs illuminate the general question of whether all traits are adaptive?      

Ans) A trade-off is a situation in which an increase the fitness of one trait will inevitably lead to a decrease in fitness of another trait. This can occur due to developmental constraints, or simply because organisms have a limited pool of energy and cannot develop all traits to a maximum degree simultaneously. Examples include testis size versus brain size in bats, and flower size versus number of flowers in begonias. The occurrence of trade-offs demonstrates that a particular trait can be adaptive in one context, yet the same trait can be non-adaptive in a different context.

11. Suppose that fish were introduced into Lake Citadelpark, one of the lakes De Meester studied. What do you predict will happen to phenotypic plasticity in the Daphnia of Lake Citadelpark? Outline the observations you would need to make to test your prediction.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Ans) A logical prediction is that Daphnia in Lake Citadelpark would evolve greater phenotypic plasticity in phototactic behavior if fish were introduced into the lake. To test this prediction, we could allow a number of generations to pass, then repeat De Meester's experiment. We could then isolate many individual genotypes and allow them to reproduce asexually in the laboratory, producing many replicates of each genotype. Each genotype could then be tested for phototactic behavior, both in water that had never had fish in it, and also in water that came from the lake. If the prediction is correct, then members of each genotype will show strong negative phototaxis in normal (fish-inhabitated) lake water and much weaker negative phototaxis in water that had never had fish in it.

OA 2 (ans still not 100%)

The neutral theory predicts that as a result of genetic drift the rate of accumulation of nonsynonymous substitutions will be slower because __________

ANS:

An article about lizards in the Dominican Republic notes that lizards in the Greater Antilles are an example of "replicated adaptive radiation". What is adaptive radiation?

ANS: Splitting of group of lizards into populations that became adapted to many different ecological niches

 The Q and D genes are 20 map units apart: the recombination rate r= 0.2. In the cross Qd/ qD x qd/ qd what fraction of the progeny will be QD/ qd?

ANS:

A mating between two related individuals is Consanguineous

The article titled "Population genetics of the white phased spirit black bear of British Columbia " written by Hedrick and Ritland was published in the journal Evolution in the year 2012 ,volume 66 pages 305 – 313

The neutral theory predicts that as a result of genetic drift the rate of accumulation of nonsynonymous substitutions will be slower because __________.

ANS: They are often deleterious mutations and are removed by natural selection

Fruit flies have gene timeless with two allals: Is-tim and s-tim. How could researchers identify whether the Is-tim allele has experienced recent strong positive selection at a site in Italy called Novoli? Among the fruit flies from the Novoli population…

ANS:  The Is-tim allele would be at high frequency and high linkage disequilibrium with nearby marker loci

A gene D is linked to its marker G. Linkage means … The genotype for the tightly linked loci on the chromosome

Marker “G” is characterized by three single nucleotide polymorphisms, the haplotype would be … tendency for alleles at different loci on a chromosome to be inherited together

Researchers tested whether gene and marker locus were in linkage equilibrium within a population. Linkage equilibrium is… tendency for genotypes at one locus to be randomly distributed with respect to genotypes at another locus

Inbreeding is mating among kin

The Q and D genes are 20 map units apart: recombination rate r = 0.2. In cross Qd/qD x qd/qd. What fraction of progeny will be QD/qd?

10%

In a population of mice at an interesting genetic locus for which the recessive m alleles do not make a functional protein. If researchers estimate mutation rate to be 0.9x10^-4 and they know that the selection coefficient is 0.9, what is the equilibrium frequency for the maintenance of alleles at this locus?

ANS:

Q = sqrt(u/s) u = 0.9x10^-4, s = 0.9

0.01

If the bear cub in the article is not albino, but a white-phase bear because it has the same genotype as a Kermode bear in Ritland and Marshall (2001), then the bear cub will be heterozygous at Cys at codon 298 that codes for MC1R from its mother and father.

ANS:

*In a plant population linkage disequilibrium is complete between branch length locus (B) and presence of a marker “e”. If the marker absence is “E” then what must be true of this plant population?

ANS:

Branch length locus and marker e are on different chromosomes?

*If a student was working on an experimental population of pea plants. The student crossed plants that were reddish-purple and gave long pollen to other plants that were pink and gave round pollen and he wrote the genotypes of the plants in cross: R L / r l x r l / r l. (Flower colour = R=reddish-purple, r = pink) and pollen shape (L = long, r = round). Choose best option for completing sentence in his notebook. If the two loci, flower colour and pollen shape, are not linked, l would expect ____ of progeny of this cross to be R L / r l.

ANS:

75%

Among a population of 220 bears on a small island the frequency of the MC1R298Cys was 0.1 and the population was at Hardy Weinberg equilibrium. Then 30 black bears migrated to the small island from the mainland where the MC1R298Tyr was fixed. What are the new allele frequencies of the admixed population? Choose all the frequencies needed to complete the sentence. Among the admixed island population the f(MC1R298Tyr )= p= ______ and  f(MC1R298Cys) = q= ________  , the new allele frequencies indicate that the island population has evolved as a consequence of the migration.

ANS: 0.01, 2, 0.81, 0.18, 0.088, 0, 1, 0.912

Researchers analyzed genotypes of all 30 bunnies from a small island population and found 5 of them were genotype AG: they were heterozygous at a SNP in the ASIP gene. If frequency of A allele of SNP is 0.33 what is fixation index of population?

ANS: 0.11, 1, 0.44, 0.63, 0.18