Problem: Biologists are studying two separate populations of the same species. The second population formed when a group of individuals were cut off from the rest of the population due the formation of a river. There has been no gene flow between these two populations since they originally split. A member of the research team determines that genetic drift has been a much stronger force in one population than the other.
a. Devise a scenario that would explain why/how genetic drift has been stronger in one population than the other? You can use an existing example, it does not have to be a real case, but it does have to demonstrate that you understand genetic drift (5 sentences max).
b. What would likely happen to the population experiencing stronger genetic drift if the barriers to gene flow were removed? Assume no speciation has occurred, and both populations remain the same species (5 sentences max).