What will most likely happen if sudden changes in an environment occur and no individuals of a population are able to adapt to the changes?
Biology · Middle School · Wed Jan 13 2021
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Answer: The population will become extinct.
The effect of repeated adverse change on mean fitness depends on its frequency rather than its severity. If the depression of mean fitness leads to population decline, however, severe stress may cause extinction. Evolutionary rescue from extinction requires abundant genetic variation or a high mutation supply rate, and thus a large population size. Although natural populations can sustain quite intense selection, they often fail to adapt to anthropogenic stresses such as pollution and acidification and instead become extinct.