Earthquake damage causes two rabbits to be separated from the rest of the rabbits in their large habitat. They have no way to ge
t back to their original habitat. The two rabbits mate with each other. Over time, all the offspring in the new habitat are descendants of the original two rabbits. What are the outcomes of this situation? A.The rabbits in the new habitat will have lower genetic variation than the rabbits in the original habitat. B. The rabbits in the new habitat will have a higher risk of random genetic mutations than the rabbits in the original habitat. C. The rabbits in the original habitat have a greater likelihood of choosing an unrelated mate than the rabbits in the new habitat. D.The rabbits in the original habitat will be less likely to reproduce than the rabbits in the new habitat.
<em>A.The rabbits in the new habitat will have lower genetic variation than the rabbits in the original habitat. </em>
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Explanation:
If two animals of opposite sex are isolated from a larger group of animal, and made to reproduce. They will produce offspring with similar genetic makeup. If this offspring still remain isolated, and continue to interbreed within themselves for a number of consecutive generations, their offspring will all be very closely related genetically. Situations like this just as with the two rabbits in the question leads to a lower genetic variation within the offspring of the two animals.
Animals need to reproduce within a larger group in order to increase genetic variation. Increasing genetic variation reduces the risk of been sucked into a gene pool. A lower genetic variation reduces the fitness of the animals involved. It is only an advantage in cases in which the the original pair are resistant to a deadly disease. In this case all the offspring also develop this immunity. Mostly the effects of a lower genetic variation leaves negative impacts, and animals try to avoid this by preferring to interbreed with unrelated partner
