A fisherman catches one trout from each of two ponds. Pond A contains 100 trout and pond B contains 1,000 trout. Which population is more affected by the fisherman?
A)Pond A; the fisherman has a greater likelihood of completely removing alleles from the gene pool by taking a fish from the smaller population.
B)Pond A; fewer fish are able to move into a small pond and find mates.
C)Pond B; the fisherman is more likely to catch a fish that is undergoing evolution in a bigger population.
D)Pond B; the process of evolution occurs more slowly in large populations and removing a fish speeds up the process.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Pond A is more affected by the fisherman because it has a smaller population size. Removing one individual (trout) from a small population has a greater impact on its gene pool and can result in the loss of certain alleles. Pond B has a larger population, so removing one fish has less impact on the gene pool and evolution occurs more slowly. Choice B is not relevant to the impact of the fisherman, and choice C and D are not accurate explanations for the effect of population size on the impact of the fisherman.

A Fisherman Catches One Trout from Each of Two Ponds