Genetic Variation
Jan. 22nd, 2020 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmith ... allows mussels to adapt to ocean acidification.
Genetic variation is also a factor in long-term species survival. Lose that, and even with many individuals, extinction becomes probable. This effect is worse the smaller the gene pool, and the slower the reproductive rate. So large animals and predators are much more vulnerable than small animals and prey. If you put a pair of rabbits on an island, they will cover the island with rabbits. They breed so fast that they can afford to lose a high percentage of individuals to inbred defects and still sustain a viable population -- but they remain constrained by lack of variety.
Genetic variation is also a factor in long-term species survival. Lose that, and even with many individuals, extinction becomes probable. This effect is worse the smaller the gene pool, and the slower the reproductive rate. So large animals and predators are much more vulnerable than small animals and prey. If you put a pair of rabbits on an island, they will cover the island with rabbits. They breed so fast that they can afford to lose a high percentage of individuals to inbred defects and still sustain a viable population -- but they remain constrained by lack of variety.
