Entomology 108 - Fall 2009
Midterm Exam - Take Home
Due Monday, Nov. 2, 2009
100 points
Answer 10 of the following 11 questions (each worth 10 points). You may answer an 11th question for up to 5 bonus points, and indicate your
bonus question (otherwise we will just use the last question on your exam, if
you answer all questions). Your answers should be written on a separate sheet of
paper and should be sufficiently long to provide a thoughtful discussion of the
question (I expect that about a paragraph would be appropriate for most
questions). Write in complete sentences, paragraphs, etc. Because
this is a take home exam you may use outside sources, such as your notes or
other references, but do not discuss the questions with your classmates and
properly cite any sources (but not my lecture notes). I am
most interested in your own thoughts and opinions (supported by evidence). Call
me if you have questions (402-560-6684).
Hints: My buddy Wyatt Hoback says "For essay exams, the answer should
always be longer than the questions." Good advice, in my opinion. Also, (1) know
what the question is asking (talk to me, if you don't), (2) be certain to answer
all of the question (many have more than one part), (3) focus on answering the
question, not on extraneous issues, and (4) always justify your answer.
The Prolog
Sure, there used to be days I didn't want to go into work, but my dream
sustained me. What is the point of life if there aren't hopes and dreams? You
can't teach or do research without knowing disappointment, and the derision of
my colleagues was to be expected. I knew that making a difference, realizing my
dream to better the world wouldn't be easy. But lately, the dream has faded, to
be replaced my a new, darker vision.
Ever since I realized an uncaring world would never recognize my genius; ever
since I realized that I if couldn't be respected, then I must be feared; ever
since I mastered the maniacal laugh of the truly great scientists -- I have
dreamt that I would CONQUER AND ENSLAVE THE WORLD!!! What have I done wrong? I
have the lab, the expensive equipment, the arcane tomes, and the quirky
demeanor. But I don't have a henchman, Sheri is far too kind to do my evil
bidding. So in the guise
of an innocent class exam, perhaps I can find an obsequious toady to help
me realize my nefarious schemes...
The Job Application -- I Mean, Exam Questions
-
Red or white wine, Ginger or Mary Ann, steal nuclear weapons or threaten
global destruction from a satellite equipped with a city-destroying laser-- life is full of choices. I can't waste my genius with trivia, I need evil
employees who can make decisions. Of course, like all employers, I may have
to correct inappropriate employee choices (probably with electrocution
rather than immolation, I'm not a traditionalist), but watching minions try
to weasel out of my righteous justice can be fun. So, let's see how you do
with a true dilemma. What are the most important factors that have lead to
insects becoming the dominant land animals on Earth?
- Almost any twisted, embittered gnome can dig up graves, fetch brains,
and install detonators in stolen nuclear weapons. What I need in an
assistant is an understanding of nature at it's deepest levels, so I can get
good advice as I pervert the natural world to support my evil schemes. Show
me what you've got. Like most evil geniuses, I have little use for humans
(well, I may find some uses for them in the lab, torture chamber, or firing
range). But maybe I'm missing something about this sociality stuff. I note
that the social insects are the most successful insect group, and the ants
are the most successful social insects. Logically this makes the ants the
most successful insects. Why?
- Ruler of the planet sounds fine, but it's not all better hotel rooms and
burning cities. I'm going to need my down time and a little relaxation. How
to relax, hmm...I know, revenge can be fun! Let's start with my tortured
adolescence. Describe a situation in which males would get to be the choosy
sex rather than females (and explain your answer). You need not limit this
to humans, if it matters you can use any type of animal.
- Like most evil geniuses, I find myself drawn to the notion of giant
robots or giant ants or giant clowns destroying city centers. But maybe I
need to think smaller, and make a mutant insect-sized army. What are the
ecological advantages associated with small size (say for terrestrial
organisms in the size range of insects)?
- Real estate is all about location, location, location. Sure I could go
with the underground lair, the secret island laboratory, or the decaying
castle which villagers shun, but am I really going to be able to recover my
equity now the housing bubble has burst? Those obligatory self-destruct
systems don't come cheap. So I'm thinking a lab with a view is what's
required, nothing too fancy, just a small asteroid or orbiting satellite of
doom. As long as I'm planning to build my lair off planet (which is smart
for tax purposes as well as real estate value), why don't I use the reduced
gravity environment to my advantage. Yes, this is the "create giant insects"
question, I know you have been waiting for. Exactly how do I need to modify
insect physiology and morphology to create giant insects I can use to lay
waste to armies, terrorize vast human populations, and sell on eBay? Let's
look at roughly 3 meters high as a good target size.
- Does form really follow function? Does having a club leg or hunchback
really help you do your job as my evil minion, or does it just save me money
on employee health insurance (given that my employee's all have pre-existing
conditions and are therefore uninsurable)? As my evil employee I will look
to you to help me decide questions like whether or not my robot really needs
four laser cannons, or if I'm just trying to make him look a little more
butch. Consequently, your understanding of natural morphology is a crucial
job requirement. So, to test you on this point, tell me why insects look as
they do (what is the purpose or explanation behind key insect features)?
- Any entomologist worth his salt knows that
without insects global ecosystems will collapse and human civilization will
likely collapse with them. So holding the world for ransom under the threat
of killing all the world's insects seems like a reasonable ploy. How should
I do it? Order 8 billion bug zappers?
No, too bright, we won't be able to steal bodies from graveyards with all
that light. Cover the globe with insect "fumigant"? No, too smelly
and it would violate EPA air quality standards. I know, I'll
block some insect sensory system (hearing, vision, chemoreception, touch) to
prevent kinky insect mating (and let's face it, ALL insect mating is kinky).
But which system should I target? Let's pick the most important. So,
which insect sensory system is most important for successful mating and why?
- As Hollywood horror movies illustrate, most minions are physically
deformed, mentally deformed, or both. Except in the film Young
Frankenstein, which fosters the notion that lab assistants should be
buxom blonds eager to find some way to relieve the constant stress that is
the lot of all dedicated scientists. I regard this idea as the kind of
progressive thinking that leads to great advances in science. The selection
process for evil minion is not unlike the selection process for a suitable
mate -- you know, how big is your hump, what are your religious views (steal
body from grave or steal body from crypt), or how many cockroaches can you
shove in your mouth at one time. Maybe the natural world can offer some
assistance. What criteria do most insect females use in evaluating
suitability of a male as a mate?
- Massive swarms of billions of locusts, darkening the sun with their
numbers, laying waste to huge tracts of land, and leaving a path of
destruction in their wake. Clouds of insects so vast that air travel becomes
impossible, humans flee before them, and NO POWER IN HEAVEN OR EARTH CAN
STOP THEM!! As we say at the evil scientists club, "I'm down with that G."
So, the plan is clear. (1) Get swarming insects. Check. (2) Rear vast
numbers. Check. (3) Develop hidden network for distribution of insects.
Check. (4). Control where swarms move. Oh, I guess that could be a problem,
couldn't it. Migrating Monarch butterflies fly to a specific location in
Mexico, but migratory locust swarms don't make hotel reservations. What
determines where migrating locust swarms go and how is this different from
migrating butterflies?
- The memories haunt me, to this very day...first, I had to buy my own Special K®
(with dehydrated strawberries)
breakfast cereal, because Phyllis says I didn't write it on "The List."
Then, I tried have a bowl of my Special K®
(with dehydrated strawberries) breakfast cereal and what did
I find? A half eaten box and NO STRAWBERRIES! Can anyone (even lesser beings
such as yourselves) appreciate the depth of my pain and anguish? Now do you
begin to understand why I must embark on a journey of global destruction
that puts the very survival of human civilization at risk?
Who ate my cereal and took my strawberries? I think we all know the answer
to that question: one of the ravenous nymphal Higleys, either Cameron or
Addison. Of course they deserve a long, lingering fate-worse-than-death for
this transgression, but they each have half of my genes. How can I torture
half of myself? I need to look to you and to my insect brethren for
solutions to this problem. How do insects avoid competition between adults
and immatures?
- How many evil schemes must fail before we get a little quality control
in the taking-over-the-world business. More specifically, shouldn't evil
graduate schools spend more time on proper experimental design and less on
courses like "Arbitrarily Killing Security Guards: Morale Destroyer or
Management Perk?" I'm sick of brilliant ideas failing through poor
execution, so let's see if you can get promoted from evil minion to the
management track. Because I saw "On Her
Majesty's Secret Service" too many times, I've developed a compound that I
think can kill all pollinating insects (no pollinating insects, no
pollinated food plants, mass starvation.) Design an
experiment for me to test the effectiveness of this compound (which I'm
calling Bee-Gone). Need I point out that the key point in this question is
that your process represents a genuine experiment?
Note
Although evil minions naturally live or die at the whim of their "master",
the employer of record is: Scientists Trying to Instigate Nefarious Goals
(STING), a privately held, limited liability corporation. Besides passing the
employment test, candidates for evil minion should be cloyingly obsequious, laugh
menacingly, have a physical deformity (or be willing to get one), and be willing to (legally) change name to Igor or Igoretta
(STING is an equal opportunity employer). Must have experience in mutating
organisms with toxic waste, developing monsters through genetic engineering, or
have taken Entomology 108. Candidates also will be accepted for Bavarianesque
lab assistant, but must look like a 25-year-old Teri Garr. Salary and benefits negotiable.
Addendum: The Boring, Soul-Destroying Version of the Exam
- What are the most important factors that have lead to insects becoming
the dominant land animals on Earth?
- Why are ants the most successful insect group?
- Describe a situation in which males get to be the choosy sex. I don't want technical details, I'm
looking for a strategic approach.
- What are the ecological advantages associated with small size (say for
terrestrial organisms in the size range of insects)?
- In a low gravity environment, how would I need to modify insect
physiology and morphology to create giant insects (ca. 3 meters tall).
- Why do insects look as they do (what is the purpose or explanation
behind key insect features)?
- Which insect sensory system is most
important for successful mating and why?
- What criteria do most insect females use in evaluating suitability of a
male as a mate?
- What determines where huge swarms of desert locusts move and how they
are like or dissimilar to migrating butterflies?
- How do insects avoid competition between adults and immatures?
- Assume I've developed a compound that I think can kill all pollinating
insects . Design an experiment for me to test the effectiveness of this
compound.
