N the sierra nevada mountains of california there are many populations of the checkerspot butterfly euphydryas editha. you notice that females of one population lay their eggs near the tip of a plant's stem (population a). females of another population in the same area lay their eggs at the base of the stem on a different type of plant (population b). the young hatch out as caterpillars; they live on the host plant and eat its leaves.

How will technology impact medicine in the future?

The pharynx is the structure in the body that serves as a pathway of both air and food. how does the body make sure that food does not get into the lungs? the salivary glands secrete enzymes that pull food out of the air pathway. the small intestine pushes the air out of the digestive system. the pancreas breaks down food in the air pathway. the epiglottis closes the air pathway so that food will not enter it.

To answer this question, researchers studied populations of the dusky salamander (desmognathus ochrophaeus) living on different mountain ranges in the southern appalachian mountains. the researchers tested the reproductive isolation of pairs of salamander populations by leaving one male and one female together and later checking the females for the presence of sperm. four mating combinations were tested for each pair of populations (a and b)—two within the same population (female a with male a and female b with male b) and two between populations (female a with male b and female b with male a). the proportion of successful matings for each mating combination was measured. for example, when all the matings of a particular combination were successful, the researchers gave it a value of 1; when none of the matings were successful, they gave it a value of 0. then the researchers calculated an index of reproductive isolation that ranged from 0 (no isolation) to 2 (full isolation). the reproductive isolation value for two populations is the sum of the proportion of successful matings of each type within populations (aa + bb) minus the sum of the proportion of successful matings of each type between populations (ab + ba). the table provides data for the geographic distances and reproductive isolation values for 27 pairs of dusky salamander populations.