Question

In many polygynous songbird species, such as wrens or red winged blackbirds, a single male holds a territory and mates with several females on that territory. In monogamous species, such as cardinals and blue jays, mated pairs typically hold a territory and males mate with only one female. In comparably sized populations, do you expect drift to have a stronger effect in polygynous species or monogamous species? Explain your choice.

Answer 1

Explanation:

Genetic drift is a phenomenon which changes the allele frequency of a population due to a natural catastrophic which is random. The phenomenon occurs in the small population and chances of change in the allele frequency are very less in the large-sized population.

The size of the population is affected by the mating also and the monogamous species have more genetic diversity compared to the polygamous species but the polygamous mate to maximize the chances of breeding. These lead to the change in the genetic drift and both the polygamous and monogamous species will be affected by the drift process.