A species of lizard is found on the eastern and western sides of part of a mountain range.On both sides,individual populations are small.On the western side,individual populations are relatively close together and males move extensively among populations to breed.On the eastern side,however,populations are farther apart and males seldom move among more than one or two adjacent populations to breed.If you were to study the genetic diversity of western and eastern populations,which pattern would you expect to find?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The limited male movement among eastern populations indicates restricted gene flow, which can lead to decreased genetic diversity within populations. The relatively close proximity of western populations and extensive male movement indicates increased gene flow, which can lead to greater genetic diversity within populations. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that each western population would be genetically diverse, although the allele frequencies might differ from one population to the next. Eastern populations would be less diverse, and some populations may have only a limited number of the total alleles available in the species. Option D describes this pattern. Option A is incorrect because it suggests that the eastern populations would have fewer different alleles when this is unlikely given the species is present on both sides of the mountain range. Option B is unlikely because it proposes that each western and eastern population would have all of the available alleles, which is rare. Option C is not expected since the eastern populations are expected to have less genetic diversity due to limited gene flow. Option E is incorrect since not all patterns are equally reasonable given the information provided.

A Species of Lizard Is Found on the Eastern and Western