Final answer:
Inbreeding increases the frequency of homozygosity in a population, leading to inbreeding depression as deleterious recessive alleles are expressed more often, potentially resulting in genetic disorders and higher mortality. The correct option is c) homozygosity; deleterious recessive alleles are expressed more often
Step-by-step explanation:
Inbreeding results in a higher frequency of homozygosity in a population. This is due to closely related individuals mating, which increases the probability of offspring inheriting identical alleles from both parents, including deleterious recessive alleles that may lead to genetic disorders.
Inbreeding depression occurs because inbreeding can bring together these rare, deleterious mutations at a higher frequency than would occur in a randomly mating population, leading to harmful phenotypes. This is the expression of deleterious recessive alleles at a higher rate, which in turn can lead to abnormalities and susceptibility to disease, thereby increasing the chance of morbidity and mortality within the population.
An example illustrating this can be seen with a rare recessive allele that causes a genetic disease. In a large, randomly mating population, the likelihood of two carriers mating is relatively low. However, if carriers within a family start to inbreed, the chance dramatically increases that two carriers will mate and produce offspring with the disease. The correct option is c) homozygosity; deleterious recessive alleles are expressed more often