Question

Australia has recently been affected by rampant wildfires that have resulted in the deaths of many animals. Before the fires, the Australian Koala population was at 239,000. Ecologists estimate around 8,000 died in the fires. The koala haploid genome size is approximately 3.5x10^9bp (remember that koalas, like most animals, are diploid), and the rate of mutation occurrence is 2x10^-7 mutations/site/generation.

How many new mutations are predicted to occur in the functional region (8%) of the genome each generation? (Show your work/outline the equations in at least 2 steps, 1 pt)

If a single koala population lost 90% of its residents in the fires, explain how the effects of genetic drift increase and the effects of natural selection decrease as a result of the population shrinking? (1-2 sentences, 1 pt)

Answer 1