Question

When a genetic bottleneck happens, a species’ population ( blank ) . It’s unlikely that the species will have a high degree of ( blank ) , a population characteristic that provides a species with a greater chance of surviving changes to its environment.

fill in the blanks

Answer 1

It might be decreases and genetic diversity.

Answer 2

The right answers are : Declines (rapidly) and genetic diversity.

Phenomenon occurring when a population is greatly reduced over at least one generation. The low number of remaining breeders therefore transmits only a fraction of the initial genetic diversity to subsequent generations. This results in a genetic impoverishment of the population.

In conjunction with the founder effect, bottlenecks are one of the mechanisms of species evolution.