Breeding programs and habitat preserves have been established as an effort to protect the Florida panther from extinction. Studies indicate that a minimum of 50 adult panthers are needed in order to have a self-sustaining population, which is one that does not need to be supplemented with breeding programs. If a wild population of 40 panthers were left alone, which would most likely happen to the panther population?

The panthers will maintain the population size that is present now.

The panthers will migrate to different areas of the country.

The panthers will adapt to new conditions and their descendants will survive.

The panthers will become extinct due to the lack of genetic diversity.

I think that the answer is C they will adapt to new conditions and their descendants will survive. But it could be d as well. I hope you have a good day

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olaoluagboola olaoluagboola · Answer 2 · 2020-04-21T02:47:37+02:00

Answer:

panthers will become extinct due to the lack of genetic diversity

Explanation:

The population will come into a process known as extinction vortex.

The extinction vortex explain the forces working on small populations that results in a spiral into a vortex of a large amount of smaller populations and put at risk their long-term survival.

This tends to occur due to the interactivity among environmental, demographic and genetic factors as they strengthen one another in a downward trend of a species. The absence of genetic diversity in the population will result in inbreeding and the absence of the necessary diversity that is needed for natural selection to act on for the population to acclimatize.