An earthquake decimates a ground-squirrel population.The surviving population happens to have broader stripes on average than the initial population.If broadness of stripes is genetically determined,what effect has the ground-squirrel population experienced during the earthquake?

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A genetic bottleneck occurs when a population undergoes a drastic decrease in size, leading to a reduction in genetic diversity. In this case, the earthquake caused a decrease in the ground-squirrel population, resulting in a smaller surviving population with broader stripes. This is an example of genetic drift, which can lead to changes in the frequency of alleles in a population, such as the allele for broader stripes becoming more common.

An Earthquake Decimates a Ground-Squirrel Population