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 reproduced for several generations, what would you expect to observe?

○ both populations would be very small and genetically uniform, having lost many of their original alleles.

○ 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 diversity and changed allele frequencies.

○ both populations would be large and diverse, retaining all of their original alleles in their original frequencies.

Explanation:

This is a biology (Natural Science subfield) question about genetic drift. Location A has a large population, so genetic drift (effect of random events on allele frequencies) is less impactful. Location B has a small population; after a bottleneck (mudslides killing many), genetic diversity reduces and allele frequencies change. Let's analyze options:

• First option: Location A is large, so won't be very small/uniform. Wrong.
• Second option: Even large populations experience some drift, so not all alleles/frequencies retained. Wrong.
• Third option: Small population (B) after bottleneck has reduced diversity and changed allele frequencies. Correct.
• Fourth option: Both can't retain all alleles/frequencies after a bottleneck, especially B. Wrong.

Answer:

The population in location B would have reduced genetic diversity and changed allele frequencies.