Potatoes such as the irish lumper (solanum tuberosum) can reproduce either sexually, using flowers which bear fruit, or asexually, using the eyes of the potatoes. in the 1980s, many of the irish opted for the quicker method of planting the eyes and about two fifths of the population became reliant on this cheap crop. when the potato blight* reached ireland, it wiped out almost all of these potatoes. the irish potato famine drove over 1.5 million people to seek refuge in america while many others starved. *blight: a mold by the name of phytophthora infestans which causes a disease in potatoes. which of the following explanations best describes why the blight was so effective?
a. The potatoes could not increase in number because there was limited space on the island. This caused an increase in biodiversity, making it easier for the blight to destroy all of the potatoes.
b. The potatoes mutated and adapted to best survive in Ireland but these mutations caused them to die of blight.
c. Since most of the potatoes were clones, they lacked genetic diversity. The blight was then equally effective at wiping out all of the potatoes instead of a few.
d. Competition between potato plants for sunlight led to less biodiversity as only a few plants dominated the others. The blight could then infect all of those remaining.