Question

Henry was studying two populations of the same species of lizards. One population lived on an island and the other lived on the mainland. Both populations were affected by a hurricane that hit the island and the mainland with equal force. A year later, Henry was testing the gene frequency and saw a decrease in genetic variation in the island species, but not in the mainland species. Which best describes a conclusion he might have reached?

Answer 1

Gene flow has to do with the transfer of genes/alleles from one population to another, not what’s going on here.

So it has to be one of the Genetic Drift answers.

If you search up the definition for Genetic Drift it says it has something to do with the smaller populations.

Answer 2

Answer:

Genetic drift greatly affects small populations, but large populations can recover.

Explanation:

small populations don't have too many organisms, so it's hard to recover, while larger populations can recover because they are bigger and can reproduce more amongst themselves