A researcher is studying a population of 100 beetles that eat flower pollen. They are confined in a large aquarium in his lab and have fresh flowers to graze on every day. Eighty-four of the beetles have smooth shells, a dominant trait, while the other 16 show the ridged shell recessive trait. The beetles mate and produce offspring, increasing the proportion of ridged shells in the population to 49%. How has the frequency of the ridged allele changed between the two generations, and how might the conditions for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium have been violated for this to happen?

Question

anonymous · Answer

The ridged allele increased by 30 percent between generations, which was likely caused by having a small, nonrandomly mating population.

 The ridged allele increased by 30 percent between generations, which was likely caused by mutations in several of the smooth-shelled beetles.

 The ridged allele increased by 33 percent between generations, which was likely caused by having a large population in a small enclosure.

 The ridged allele increased by 33 percent between generations, which was likely caused by isolating this population from other beetle populations.

anonymous · Answer

I Think It Would Be C