Question

A species of wildflower grows on hillsides in two locations. In the first (location A), the population is large and diverse, covering a large section of hillside. In the second (location B), a small but diverse population grows at the base of a hillside. Severe storms cause extensive mudslides in both areas, killing a large proportion of individuals in both populations. If you were to survey both locations after the surviving flowers have survived and reproduced for several generations, which pattern would you expect to observe?
a.) Both populations would be large and diverse, retaining all of their original alleles in their original frequencies.



b.) Both populations would be very small and genetically uniform, having lost many of their original alleles.



c.) The population in location A would be large and diverse, retaining all of its alleles in their original frequencies. The population in location B would have reduced genetic diver

Answer 1

The answer is; C

This phenomenon is called bottleneck effect and drastically affects small populations in comparison to large ones. The mudslide wipes off most of the population B at the base of the hill base. Due to their small population, a large proportion of the population is lost and the pollution loses most of its alleles leaving a small proportion to continue the population succession. Its diversity is hence reduced as it repopulates. The larger population is not greatly affected because it covers much of the hillside.