Question

A population of snails on an island is disrupted during a violent storm. Portions of the population are carried by the storm surge to two new islands, while a portion remains on the original island, creating three separate populations. Conditions on one of the new islands are exactly like conditions on the original island. However, snails that landed on the second new island encounter a voracious new predator. What is likely to happen to these three populations?

A.
Speciation will occur at the same rate in all three snail populations.

B.
Speciation will occur at the same rate in the snails that landed on new islands but not in the original snail population.

C.
Speciation will rapidly occur in one of the snail populations that landed on new islands but not in the other two snail populations.

D. Speciation will occur in the original snail population but will not occur in the populations that landed on new islands.

Answer 1

C

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct answer would be that speciation will rapidly occur in one of the snail populations that landed on new islands but not in the other two snail populations.

Speciation generally means the evolution of new species. Two populations of the same species that become separated into different environments will evolve differently as a result of different environmental conditions. Each population might then become new species as they continuously try to adapt to their environments.

In the case of the 3 populations of snail in which 2 live in similar environmental conditions while the remaining one experiences a voracious new predator, the latter will evolve more rapidly in order to survive the effects of the predation, and as such, speciation will occur more rapidly when compared to the two remaining populations.

The correct option is C.