Populations of the Florida panther were reduced to very low levels in the second half of the twentieth century. In 1968 Alligator Alley, an extension of a major highway, divided the population into a northern and southern population. If we assume evolutionary equilibrium (and no selection), estimate the Ne of the population to be 75 individuals on either side of the highway, and measure an FST of 0.30, what can we conclude about the effect of the highway?
Select one: a. The highway completely isolates the southern population, allowing no gene flow.
b. The highway is not a barrier to the cats at all, and the regions north and south of the highway act as a single, well-mixed population.
c. The highway only hinders migration a little bit and gene flow is maintained at a relatively high rate.
d. The highway severely blocks the southern population, allowing only a tiny amount of gene flow.
e. The environment has been divided into subregions too small to support large numbers of territorial cats.
Populations of the Florida panther were reduced to very low levels in the second half of the twentieth century. In 1968 Alligator Alley, an extension of a major highway, divided the population into a northern and southern population. If we assume evolutionary equilibrium (and no selection), estimate the Ne of the population to be 75 individuals on either side of the highway, and measure an FST of 0.30, what can we conclude about the effect of the highway?
Select one: a. The highway completely isolates the southern population, allowing no gene flow.
b. The highway is not a barrier to the cats at all, and the regions north and south of the highway act as a single, well-mixed population.
c. The highway only hinders migration a little bit and gene flow is maintained at a relatively high rate.
d. The highway severely blocks the southern population, allowing only a tiny amount of gene flow.
e. The environment has been divided into subregions too small to support large numbers of territorial cats.
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