Question

Describe an environmental factor that could influence natural selection and decrease genetic diversity and pick a specific example to illustrate your point

Answer 1

Answer:

Environmental factors play major role in influencing natural selection which ultimately influence genetic variation of the population and leads to evolution.

Natural selection favors the survival of the organisms which have better adaptations towards the changing environment. Thus, rest all the organisms fail to survive due to which genetic diversity of the population decreases.

For example, the increasing temperature of oceans is the major concern. Due to change in the temperature of the habitat (environmental factor) many organisms of a marine population (say a species X) have died.

Decrease in population size of X reduces the genetic diversity of the entire population.

However, the organisms which are better adapted to increased temperature will survive and eventually evolve with time.

Change in the population of Peppered Moth during and after industrial revolution is an another example which also explains how environmental factor influence natural selection.

Answer 2

Answer:

Usually, Populations have a genetic variation among individuals, which is important to the population's ability to survive in different situations that have an effect on the natural selection. There are different factors which can increase or decrease the genetic diversity, and influencing natural selection.

These factors include an environmental factor, one of the major factors, which may cause changes in the genetic variation of a population and influence the natural selection. A famous and important example of environmental factors affecting natural selection was during the Industrial Revolution, when many more grey moths made up the moth population.

This was so that they could blend in with the soot from factories to avoid predators.