Question

A species that has experienced a severe bottleneck event would be expected to _______. a. be better able to adapt to changing environmental pressures b. have few instances of inbreeding c. be more susceptible to disease and famine d. retain significant genetic diversity

Answer 1

The right answer is C. be more susceptible to disease and famine.

A population bottleneck (also known as a genetic bottleneck) is, in the study of biological evolution, an event corresponding to the fact that a substantial proportion of the population of a species disappears or is prevented from to reproduce. There is a significantly different type of demographic bottleneck called the founder effect, which occurs when a subset of a population is, at least as far as reproduction is concerned, isolated from the main group.

Population bottlenecks (or bottlenecks) thus reduce genetic diversity, and hence the ability of people to adapt to new environmental constraints such as climate change, or a decline in available resources. This genetic drift can eliminate certain alleles that could, by natural selection, allow the species to adapt.

Answer 2

C. be more susceptible to disease and famine.
this is because when a population experiences the bottleneck effect, the population is cut down significantly in size.