Ry was studying two populations of the same species of lizards. One population lived on an island and the other lived on the mainland. Both populations were affected by a hurricane that hit the island and the mainland with equal force. A year later, Henry was testing the gene frequency and saw a decrease in genetic variation in the island species, but not in the mainland species. Which best describes a conclusion he might have reached? Gene flow greatly affects small populations, but large populations can recover. Genetic drift greatly affects small populations, but large populations can recover. Gene flow greatly affects large populations, but small populations can recover. Genetic drift greatly affects large populations, but small populations can recover.

Question

Biology

Harold Zhang

9 June, 22:29

Ry was studying two populations of the same species of lizards. One population lived on an island and the other lived on the mainland. Both populations were affected by a hurricane that hit the island and the mainland with equal force. A year later, Henry was testing the gene frequency and saw a decrease in genetic variation in the island species, but not in the mainland species. Which best describes a conclusion he might have reached? Gene flow greatly affects small populations, but large populations can recover. Genetic drift greatly affects small populations, but large populations can recover. Gene flow greatly affects large populations, but small populations can recover. Genetic drift greatly affects large populations, but small populations can recover.

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Arianna Espinoza · Answer 1

The correct answer is: Genetic drift greatly affects small populations, but large populations can recover

Genetic drift is a mechanism of evolution (change the allele frequencies of a population through generations) due to chance or sampling error. The effects of genetic drift are stronger on small populations (it is more likely that some allele will be lost in small populations). Genetic drift has it effects when a natural disaster reduces the number of population and this event is called bottleneck effect. As a consequence of bottleneck effect, only small amount of random assortment individuals survive. The genetic composition of those random survived individuals is now the genetic composition of the new population (genetic variation is reduced).