Consider a population of lizards living on the coast of Africa. A storm creates piles of debris that the lizards use to raft to a faraway uninhabited island. Which evolutionary process is happening?
A) mutation selection balance
B) frequency-dependent selection
C) the founder effect
D) coalescence

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The process that is occurring in this scenario is the founder effect, which happens when a small group of individuals separates from a larger population and establishes a new one. The new population will have a different genetic composition and reduced genetic diversity due to the small number of individuals starting the new population. In this case, the lizards that were rafts that reached the uninhabited island represent a small group of individuals that separated from the original population due to the storm, and therefore, the process is an example of the founder effect.

Consider a Population of Lizards Living on the Coast of Africa