Question

Gallardo and Araneda (1994) studied populations of the rodent, Ctenomys maulinus, before and after an eruption of a volcano in the Andes. Survival was random, and the rodent populations after the eruption were only a small fraction of the size of populations before the eruption. Which of the following is likely to be TRUE of the surviving populations relative to the populations before the eruption?
a) Remaining populations will have reduced genetic diversity
b) Adaptive alleles have decreased in frequency
c) All of the answer choices are possible outcomes in this scenario.
d) Maladaptive alleles have increased in frequency

Answer 1

Answer:

A) Remaining populations will have reduced genetic diversity

Explanation:

A random mating population allows for genetic diversity as each individual have equal chance of been mated to and it allows for perpetuation of frequently occurring genes.

For a small population the frequency of allele is mostly fix with virtually all loci having the same genotype because mating is within small individual and genes whose frequency is few will be drifted out of the population.

Hence, after the eruption due to a small random population diversity will be reduced as diversity occur more in a large random mating population.