Mastering biology Multiple Choice Which is the most likely explanation for a particular human population with a higher incidence of polydactyly (extra fingers/toes) than the human population as a whole.

Founder effect

Explanation:

The complete question is as follows:

Which of the following is the most likely explanation for a particular human population with a higher incidence of polydactyly (extra fingers/toes) than the human population as a whole?

diversifying selection

founder effect

directional selection

bottleneck effect

When a small number of individuals move out of a larger population into a new area and colonise then the descendants arising from these smaller number of individuals have reduced genetic diversity and this is termed as founder effect. The loss of genetic variation occurs because the smaller number of individuals will only have a limited number of alleles for a given gene and hence, the genetic diversity will be reduced. In such cases where founder effects occurs, it is usually seen that there are higher incidences of having genetic defects amongst the individuals. Thus, if a particular human population has higher incidence of polydactyly then this must be a cause of founder effect.