Question

Ten years after a major volcanic eruption and two hurricanes 11 members of an undescribed type of lizard are found on an island. They have large numerous toepads similar to tree lizards, but the dark brown coloration of ground lizards. It is safe to conclude:

Group of answer choices

Volcanism released some materials that induces mutations and this is an example of accelerated speciation.

Whoa, it's too early to jump to any conclusions. Any of the above are theoretically possible, or it could be a species that was there all along and we are just now finding it. Controlled observations and gene sequencing are needed to place these individuals properly.

That this is an interspecies hybrid formed from two lizards forced to share a the same habitat from extreme ecological pressures.

The hurricane likely blew some lizards in from another island.

Answer 1

Answer: That this is an interspecies hybrid formed from two lizards forced to share a the same habitat from extreme ecological pressures.

• Genetic drift results, when a small number of individuals from a population of a geographical region, establishes a new population in a different geographical region.
• Bottleneck effect may be observed in relation to natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanic erruption, floods, fire, famine, or other catastrophic effect.
• This leads to random selection of an allele, which is established in the population and increases its frequency, until the normal numbers are regained.
• A selective pressure is creates in terms of food, water, mating conditions, size and health of the individual, etc.
• This leads to adaptation to use an alternative resource or diversification of ecological niche.This is called adaptive radiation.
• There is adaptive radiation generating homologous structures.