188k views
5 votes
What impact can the bottleneck effect have on populations that have rebounded after near extinction?

1 Answer

2 votes
Generally speaking the main issue with the recovery of a population after a bottleneck event has to do with the lack of genetic diversity. With a limited gene pool to provide genetic material the subsequent generations may have reproduction problems because of the small population size. The recovery time for this is a long and slow process, allowing the population to increase to the point where random genetic mutations can occur and incorporate throughout the remaining population.
User Vyachez
by
7.4k points