Population geneticists study changes in the nature and amount of genetic variation in populations, the distribution of different genotypes, and how forces such as selection and drift act on genetic variation to bring about evolutionary change in populations and the formation of new species. From the explanation given in the chapter, what answers would you propose to the following fundamental questions?

How do we know the age of the last common ancestor shared by two species?

Video transcript

Everyone. Let's take a look at this question together. What is the bottleneck effect in population genetics When we know that the bottleneck effect refers to a type of genetic drift which is caused by a drastic change in population ties, which can occur due to environmental factors like natural disasters, diseases, or human activities. In this drastic change in population size is a reduction in size, and as a result, we have produced genetic diversity due to some alleles being lost. And so answer choice A best describes the bottleneck effect in population genetics because the bottleneck effect is that sudden reduction in the size of a population resulting in a loss of genetic diversity. So answer choice A is the correct answer. I hope you found this video to be helpful. Thank you and goodbye.