Campbell Biology (10th Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0321775651
ISBN 13: 978-0-32177-565-8

Chapter 38 - Test Your Understanding - Level 3 - Synthesis/Evaluation - Page 835: 9

Answer

As a small population (founder or remnant) a self-incompatible species might fare poorly since it might by chance contain only individuals genetically identical for the self-incompatibility alleles, leading to very low levels of reproduction. However, if unlike individuals did remain in the small population, higher genetic diversity, important for adapting to changed conditions, would likely be found than if the small population were from a self-fertile species. The self-fertile species would, however, have a much easier time reproducing even from a very small number of individuals.

Work Step by Step

The key to this answer is to see the balance between ease of reproduction (self-fertile) and maintained genetic diversity (important for evolutionary survival) for these two scenarios.
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