Question

summarized below in the photos and a map of the locations where each population of tortoise lives on santa cruz island.
left: h lansdown/alamy stock photo; right: blickwinkel/agami/r. de haas/alamy stockphoto; center: fig 1. from poulakakis, n., edwards, d. l., chiari, y., garrick, r. c., russello, m. a., benavides, e., watkins - colwell, g. j., glaberman, s., tapia, w., gibbs, j. p., cayot, l. j., & caccone, a. (2015). description of a new galápagos giant tortoise species (chelonoidis; testudines: testudinidae) from cerro fatal on santa cruz island. plos one, 10(10), e0138779. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138779 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
two populations of tortoises on the galápagos island of isabela have recently been geographically isolated. in which of the following sources of data would you expect to see the most difference between the two populations after about 500 years?
non - gene dna

gene - coding dna

morphology

Explanation:

Geographical isolation can lead to genetic drift and natural selection. Non - gene DNA (also known as non - coding DNA) is less subject to natural selection pressure compared to gene - coding DNA and morphological traits. Gene - coding DNA is under strong selection to maintain functional proteins, and morphology is also under selection for survival and reproduction. Non - gene DNA can accumulate mutations more freely over time due to less functional constraint. So after 500 years of geographical isolation, non - gene DNA is expected to show the most difference.

Answer:

non - gene DNA