A population of 1,000 birds exists on a small Pacific island.Some of the birds are yellow,a characteristic determined by a recessive allele.The others are green,a characteristic determined by a dominant allele.A hurricane on the island kills most of the birds from this population.Only ten remain,and those birds all have yellow feathers.Which of the following statements is true?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The hurricane caused a population bottleneck, meaning that only a small fraction of the original population survived. This can lead to a loss of genetic diversity, as only a small genetic pool remains to repopulate the island. Additionally, the fact that all ten remaining birds have yellow feathers indicates that the green allele was lost in the hurricane. This further reduces genetic diversity and increases the likelihood of genetic drift. Option A is incorrect because the situation does not involve a mutation event. Option C is incorrect because the remaining birds are all genetically similar and are unlikely to mate with new birds from outside the population. Option D is incorrect because the presence of only yellow birds suggests that the green allele may have been lost, and therefore future generations may only contain yellow birds.

A Population of 1,000 Birds Exists on a Small Pacific