Question

Question: A population of cheetahs on the plains in southern Africa has very little genetic variation compared to other species in the area. Scientists are concerned that the cheetah population will not survive extreme environmental changes. What is the name of the effect the scientist observed and why is it a concern? (1 point)

Answer Choices:

( ) Bottleneck effect, because environmental stresses affecting one cheetah could affect them all

( ) Disaster effect, because the cheetahs have mutated to produce ineffective proteins

( ) Frameshift mutation, because it only produces ineffective proteins

( ) Substitution mutation, because the these mutations cannot be passed to offspring

Answer 1

Answer: Bottleneck effect — a population bottleneck greatly reduces genetic variation, so individuals are genetically similar and the population may lack the variation needed to adapt to disease or environmental change (if one is susceptible, many likely are).