You are studying two species of tree frog. The two species are found on two different islands, separated by 200 km of ocean water. Species A lives on very light-colored rocks and species B lives on dark-colored trees. Which process is most unlikely to be affecting allele frequencies in the population?
a. Gene flow between populations
b. Genetic drift
c. Natural selection
d. Mutation rates
Answer:
a. Gene flow between populations
Explanation:
Gene flow between two populations occurs when one or a few members of one population migrate into the other and interbreed in the new population. This process adds some new alleles to the new population. In the given example, two populations of a tree frog are separated by 200 km of ocean water. Therefore, the frogs of one population would not be able to migrate into the other population and interbreed. So, gene flow can not affect the allele frequencies of these two populations.