Use the following description to answer the question(s) below. On the Bahamian island of Andros, mosquitofish populations live i
n various, now-isolated, freshwater ponds that were once united. Currently, some predator-rich ponds have mosquitofish that can swim in short, fast bursts; other predator-poor ponds have mosquitofish that can swim continuously for a long time. When placed together in the same body of water, the two kinds of female mosquitofish exhibit exclusive breeding preferences. Which two of the following have operated to increase divergence between mosquitofish populations on Andros? 1. improved gene flow 2. bottleneck effect 3. sexual selection 4. founder effect 5. natural selectio
Sexual selection is a type of natural selection wherein the individuals with reproductive advantages are selected as mate over the other individuals of the same gender.
Here, individuals exhibit variations in their reproductive success. In the given example, two different types of female mosquitofish differ from each other in their mate choices and prefer the males of the same species with some specific trait and exhibit sexual selection.
Natural selection: Differential reproductive and survival success of some individuals of a population due to the presence of adaptive genetic traits is known as natural selection.
The mosquitofishes that are able to swim in fast bursts are favored by natural selection in the predator rich pond as they can escape the predators successfully. On the other hand, mosquitofishes living in predator-free ponds swim continuously as there are no predators in the same habitat.
