Question 75

(Multiple Choice)

Use this information to answer the following questions
Many species once roamed across large areas of continents,and for millions of years these species were "shaped" by their environment.Today,numerous species,especially large carnivores,are found in national parks and nature reserves that are isolated by hundreds or thousands of kilometres of land now occupied by humans.The cheetah is one example of a species that has shown several dramatic decreases in numbers over time,and now occupies a small fraction of its historic range.
-Which of the following statements would most likely apply to cheetahs currently found in Kenya and South Africa?


A)Certain alleles may be under- or over-represented in cheetah populations.
B)Cheetah populations likely passed through several bottlenecks, which may have been caused by factors such as disease, competition with other predators, overhunting, poaching, and habitat loss.
C)Over time, reduced gene flow between the isolated populations would lead to aggressive encounters if the separated populations were brought together.
D)Natural selection has much more impact on large populations than on small populations.
E)A and B

Answer