A small flock of birds becomes stranded on an isolated island during a hurricane.The birds successfully breed and spread across the island.Several decades later,a hurricane hits the island and randomly kills off most of the birds,including the only birds in the population that had black tails.Which one of the following processes is best illustrated in this example?
A)Gene flow
B)Speciation
C)Natural selection
D)Genetic drift

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The example illustrates genetic drift, specifically a bottleneck effect, where a random event (the hurricane) significantly reduces the population size and, by chance, eliminates certain genetic traits (black tails) from the population. This is not a result of gene flow, speciation, or natural selection, which involve different mechanisms of evolutionary change.

A Small Flock of Birds Becomes Stranded on an Isolated