Question

Scientists completing a survey of the Lovey Dove population of Tasmania found that approximately 300 Lovey Doves were gray while approximately 100 were white. What can we infer from this data?

Answer 1

The data on the Lovey Dove population suggests that natural selection might be favoring gray individuals over white, possibly due to better camouflage in their environment, resulting in a larger population of gray Lovey Doves.

Step-by-step explanation:

From the data indicating that there are approximately 300 gray Lovey Doves and 100 white Lovey Doves in Tasmania, we can infer a potential instance of natural selection influenced by the environment. If gray individuals blend better into the Tasmanian environment, which may be rocky and similar to the hypothetical case of gray and Himalayan rabbits, gray Lovey Doves might have better camouflage, leading to higher survival and reproductive rates as compared to the white Lovey Doves.

This could result in diversifying selection, where two different phenotypes (gray and white in this case) are selected in different ways based on the environment. The estimated total population is 400 individuals; however, this number could vary slightly due to sampling errors and bias from sampling methods.