Question

Natural selection can effect the diversity of organisms within a population. This can sometimes be seen through the distribution of phenotypes within a population over time. For example, a lizard population that typically thrives in a habitat with colorful vegetation recently experienced phenotypic changes due to a decrease in green vegetation. Which of the following distribution graphs best predicts the lizard population if the habitat where they live, and camouflage, stopped growing green vegetation?

Answer 1

Answer: Polygenic traits in a population often form a bell curve distribution. Natural selection on polygenic traits can take the form of: Stabilizing selection: Intermediate phenotypes have the highest fitness, and the bell curve tends to narrow. Directional selection: One of the extreme phenotypes has the highest fitness.