Question

A large population of rat snakes is divided by a housing development into two smaller populations that are, at least when the development is completed, genetically identical in which neutral loci are variable and what the allele frequencies are at those loci. Describes the long-term expectation about variation at the neutral loci if the populations do not ever exchange migrants.

Answer 1

When a large population of rat snakes is divided by a housing development into two smaller populations that do not exchange migrants, the long-term expectation is for an increase in variation at neutral loci between the populations due to geographically discontinuous populations, different environmental conditions, and natural selection.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a large population of rat snakes is divided by a housing development into two smaller populations, and the populations do not exchange migrants, the long-term expectation is that variation at neutral loci will increase between the two populations. This is because the populations are geographically discontinuous, preventing the free flow of alleles between them.

As a result, different environmental conditions and natural selection will cause the two populations to evolve along different trajectories, leading to divergence in their allele frequencies at numerous genetic loci over time. Additionally, genetic drift, which is enhanced due to the smaller population sizes, will contribute to the divergence as well.