Question

as part of a wildlife conservation program, researchers take a small population of wolves and relocate them to an island. after several generations, researchers analyze the genomes of the wolves in the population and determine that there is little genetic variation in the population. which evolutionary mechanism best explains the low level of genetic variation of these wolves? a gene flow b founder effect c mutation d recombination

Explanation:

The founder effect occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. In this case, a small population of wolves is relocated to an island. Over several generations, the genetic variation is low. Gene flow (movement of genes between populations) is not occurring here as it's a new isolated population. Mutation would introduce new genetic variation, but the question is about low variation. Recombination shuffles existing genes but doesn't explain the initial low - variation in a newly founded population. The founder effect best explains the low genetic variation as the small founding population has a limited set of genes.

Answer:

B. Founder effect