Question

Northern elephant seals have reduced genetic variation because hunting by humans reduced their population size to as few as 20 individuals at the end of the 19th century. Their population has since rebounded to over 30,000, but their genes still carry the marks of this near extinction: they have much less genetic variation than a population of southern elephant seals that was not hunted as intensely.

Which of the following best describes how the population has evolved?

Answer 1

The best description of how the population has evolved is:

The population of northern elephant seals has experienced a genetic bottleneck.

A genetic bottleneck occurs when a population is drastically reduced in size, leading to a significant loss of genetic diversity. In this case, hunting by humans caused the northern elephant seal population to decline severely, resulting in a small number of individuals surviving and reproducing. As the population rebounded, it carried forward the limited genetic variation from the few surviving individuals, leading to reduced genetic diversity compared to the population of southern elephant seals that did not experience such intense hunting pressure.

~~~Harsha~~~