Final answer:
The Q2 of a rabbit population, where 15 out of 100 rabbits have short ears and large ears is a dominant trait, is 0.15. This represents the frequency of the homozygous recessive genotype for ear size in the population.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the question regarding large ears being a dominant trait in rabbits, we are asked to determine the Q2 of a rabbit population where 15 out of 100 rabbits have short ears. Assuming no other evolutionary forces are at play, like mutation, migration, or selection, and that the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the frequency of the homozygous recessive genotype (short ears) can be represented by Q2.
In this case, if 15 out of 100 rabbits have short ears, the frequency of short-eared rabbits (Q2) is 0.15. Since in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the sum of the genotype frequencies must equal 1 (p2 + 2pq + q2 = 1), where p is the frequency of the dominant allele and q is the frequency of the recessive allele, we have determined Q2 (q2) directly from the population data. Consequently, Q2, the frequency of the recessive homozygous genotype, is 0.15 in this rabbit population.