Long-Term Studies of Belding's Ground Squirrels Show That Immigrants Move

question 7

Multiple Choice

Long-term studies of Belding's ground squirrels show that immigrants move nearly 2 km from where they are born and make up 1 to 8% of the males and 0.7 to 6% of the females in other populations. On an evolutionary scale, why is this significant?

• A)These immigrants make up for the deaths of individuals keeping the other populations' size stable.
• B)Young reproductive males tend to stay in their home population and are not driven out by other territorial males.
• C)These immigrants provide a source of genetic diversity for the other populations.
• D)Those individuals that emigrate to these new populations are looking for less crowded conditions with more resources.
• E)Gradually, the populations of ground squirrels will move from a uniform to a clumped population pattern of dispersion.

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