Question

Genetic drift operates in a ______.

Options

• small isolated population

• large isolated population

• slow-reproducing population

• morphologically similar population

Answer 1

Genetic drift operates in a small isolated population.

Explanation:

Genetic drift is a mechanism of evolution that results in random changes in allele frequencies, and it is most significant in small, isolated populations where chance events can have a large impact on gene frequencies. In small populations, rare alleles can be lost or become fixed simply due to random sampling effects, whereas in large populations, these random fluctuations tend to average out and have less effect. This makes genetic drift an important factor in shaping genetic variation and evolution in small or isolated populations.