Question

A small number of finches are removed randomly from the wild and placed in

a protected bird area. They are given as much food as they need and have
plenty of space. Why would natural selection not occur in this population?

A. There is no reason for genetic mutation to occur.

B. The birds compete for limited resources,

C. The population has not reached carrying capacity.
D. There is no genetic variation in the finches.

Answer 1

Natural selection would not occur in this population because the finches have unlimited resources and do not experience any selection pressure for advantageous traits.

Step-by-step explanation:

Natural selection would not occur in this population because the small number of finches that were removed from the wild and placed in the protected bird area already have access to as much food as they need and have plenty of space. Natural selection occurs when individuals with traits that are advantageous for their environment survive and reproduce more successfully than those with less advantageous traits. In this case, with unlimited resources, there would be no pressure for certain traits to be advantageous, and therefore, no selection pressure for natural selection to act upon.

Answer 2

Option A, There is no reason for genetic mutation to occur

Step-by-step explanation:

As per the theory of natural selection a) species compete for limited resources and b) the one with favorable trait/characteristics reproduce successfully to produce variation in a given set of population.

Here in this case, there is no resource crunches and thus no competition among the finches. Also under the favorable conditions, there is no requirement of finches to evolve by sexual reproduction to better adapt to the new protected area.

Hence, option A is the correct answer