Question

In the exceptionally cold winter of 1997, Lake Superior froze over between the Wisconsin mainland and Isle Royale. A pack of 8 wolves crossed the ice and reached Isle Royale, an island where they encountered a population of about a dozen wolves. It is estimated that the wolf population on Isle Royale has been isolated for over 100 years (~10 generations). The pack of 8 wolves that crossed the ice would be referred to as _________________________, and if the wolves interbreed with the island population, ____________________ will occur.

Answer 1

Answer:

In the exceptionally cold winter of 1997, Lake Superior froze over between the Wisconsin mainland and Isle Royale. A pack of 8 wolves crossed the ice and reached Isle Royale, an island where they encountered a population of about a dozen wolves. It is estimated that the wolf population on Isle Royale has been isolated for over 100 years (~10 generations). The pack of 8 wolves that crossed the ice would be referred to as founder population and if the wolves interbreed with the island population, genetic drift will occur.

Explanation:

The founder effect occurs when a portion of a population (i-e the founders) separates from the old population to start a new population with different allele frequencies. Hence the pack of 8 wolves that crossed the ice would be referred to as founder population in the given scenario.

Genetic drift is defined as change in the allele frequencies in a population due to chance event. As in the given scenario, the pack of 8 wolves that crossed the ice, interbreed with the island population, thus change in the allelle frequency is occuring in the population , hence genetic drift will occur.