Due to a devastating forest fire, 90 percent of a bird population that nests in trees dies, as shown in the diagram below.

how will this random event most likely affect the new population that survived?

a
it will increase in the size of the population.

b
it will decrease the genetic diversity of the population.

c
it will maintain the same gene frequencies seen in the original population.

d
it will increase the likelihood that individuals will survive all types of future random events.

Answer: B  It will decrease the genetic diversity of the population.

If each circle color represent a distinct genetic variant existing within the population, it can be seen that the forest fire has decreased the number of individuals for white and grey types. However, the black circle type is no longer found after the forest fire. Because of this, this variant is extinct and will no longer be found in the new population. Thus, the genetic diversity of the population has decreased.

The population will indeed increase in size once more, however the gene frequencies will differ. The survival likelihood for future random evens will most likely decrease as genetic diversity is lost. Thus, if a virus infects the population, the survival chance is lower as the black genotype is absent. This may have been immune to the infectious agent.