During the last decade, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has worked to reestablish the critically endangered California condor in its last stronghold, the mountains of southern California. Recently, the service has also tried to establish a second population in the Grand Canyon region of Arizona. Why would the Fish and Wildlife Service consider it a high priority to establish two populations that are geographically distant from each other?
A) Multiple condor populations reduce inbreeding.
B) Multiple condor populations provide more opportunities for people to view the endangered species, which may cause more people to be concerned with its fate.
C) Multiple condor populations reduce genetic drift within each population.
D) Multiple condor populations reduce the risk of extinction due to localized catastrophes.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

By establishing two populations that are geographically distant from each other, the Fish and Wildlife Service is reducing the risk of extinction due to localized catastrophes. This ensures that if a catastrophic event, such as a disease outbreak or natural disaster, were to occur in one of the populations, the other population would still exist and could potentially be used to repopulate the affected area. This strategy also helps to maintain genetic diversity and reduces the chance of inbreeding, but these are not the primary reasons for establishing two distant populations.

During the Last Decade, the U