Question

Which of the following statements about levels of biodiversity is correct?A. Genetic biodiversity is a measure of the total number of genes in a community.B. A narrow distribution of habitats leads to an increase in species diversity.C. Global hotspots are areas where species diversity is thriving due to habitat restoration.D. A population with high genetic biodiversity is better able to respond to environmental stressors.

Answer 1

Answer:

D. A population with high genetic biodiversity is better able to respond to environmental stressors.

Explanation:

The genetic biodiversity of a species is the diversity of alleles that it possesses in its genetic pool. For a given gene, a population can have one or more alleles; and the more alleles the population has, it will be more diverse. Under normal conditions (without stress), the alleles that are present in high frequency in a population,  are those that best respond to the environment where the population occurs. However, if some environmental condition changes and some type of environmental stress emerge (ie drought), it is possible that these alleles no longer respond equally effectively and then, it is possible that the  alleles that on normal conditions occur with low frequency, are more adequate to face the stress. A population with fewer alleles (less genetic diversity) has terefore fewer options to deal with environmental stressors and a population with high genetic biodiversity will do this better.