141k views
3 votes
The gradualist population theory states that genetic change in a population occurs extremely slowly, over a long period of time. However, the catastrophist theory claims that populations may change drastically over a short period of time, due to catastrophic events like large-scale natural disasters.

The ____________ theory is a sort of hybrid of the two above, and it contends that long stretches of incremental evolution are interspersed with short periods wherein drastic evolutionary changes occur.

A)
uniformist


B)
intermittent burst


C)
catastrophe-bottleneck


D)
punctuated equilibrium

User Tanejah
by
8.1k points

2 Answers

3 votes

Answer:

The answer is D) punctuated equilibrium

Step-by-step explanation:

i took the same test earlier

User Fabio Carello
by
7.5k points
3 votes

The answer is D. Punctuated equilibrium theory stipulates that species remain unchanged (or change minimally) over long period of time until a short period of rapid changes probably due to sudden changes in the environment or adverse events. It is the main principle behind cladogenesis






User Angel Politis
by
7.6k points