Question

Climate changes cause a drought. There is no food to collect. To survive, the animals must become predators, catch and kill prey for food. Which group(s) would you expect to die out because of their mutations in this new environment?

Answer 1

Bird populations with mutations leading to large and broad beaks would become more common in a drought scenario where large seeds with hard cases are the primary food source due to natural selection.

Step-by-step explanation:

Considering a scenario where a climate change-induced drought leads to a shift in available food resources, we can predict certain outcomes for a population of birds in an isolated community based on the principles of natural selection. If small seeds with thin shells become rare and large seeds with hard cases become common, birds with mutations leading to large and broad beaks would have an advantage as they can eat the large, tough seeds more successfully. As the drought continues, the bird population may experience a shift wherein individuals with larger and broader beaks are selected for because they are better able to obtain food and survive under the new environmental conditions.

This example illustrates how climate change impacts biodiversity and drives evolutionary change. Species that cannot adapt to new environmental pressures, such as the availability of different resources, would likely die out. In contrast, those species that have the genetic variation that allows them to exploit the new resources will thrive, leading to a shift in the population's traits over time due to natural selection.

Answer 2

This event is telling the evolution by natural selection. This is the directional selection where most adapted animals will survive. According to Darwin, the new species arise from a single ancestor due to variation.

It had also seen in the Finches. All the new species of Finches came from a pre-existing seed-eating Finch. When the environment was favorable the Finches were herbivore and feed on seeds.

When the number of birds increases, there is a competition between them. Because the food source was limited. To prevent this competition

some of them go for different foods like insects, fruits, etc.

This food habit change also changes their morphology and separate them from their ancestor.

Similar manner, when draught condition occurs, some of the seed-eating birds become carnivore to survive this new climate. As the environmental condition continues for a long time, the number of carnivore animals will increase in number.

Because due to drought conditions, the availability of seed will decrease. Thus the carnivore birds will be more in number and the herbivore birds will gradually eliminate, as they can't cope with the new climate.