Imagine that a population of deer living on an island without any predators was threatened with overpopulation, until wolves were imported. After a couple of years, there were fewer deer, but their average running speed and length of their legs had increased. What process accounts for the change?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The increase in average running speed and length of legs in the deer population suggests that natural selection is at work. The wolves would have preyed upon the slower and shorter-legged individuals, leaving behind the faster and longer-legged ones to reproduce and pass on their favorable traits to their offspring, thereby gradually changing the characteristics of the population over time. The inheritance of acquired characteristics (choice A) is not supported by modern scientific evidence, changes due to chance alone (choice B) may occur but are unlikely to result in consistent changes in a population, genetic impossibility (choice C) is not a relevant concept, and unfavorable mutations (choice D) are more likely to decrease fitness rather than increase it, making them unlikely candidates for the cause of the observed changes.

Imagine That a Population of Deer Living on an Island