Consider a flower population that produces different sizes of blooms and depends on bees for reproduction Large blooms attract larger bees, small blooms attract smaller bees. Describe how changes in the bee population might lead to disruptive, stabilizing, and directional selection in the flowers
Disruptive selection: If there is a decrease in the population of larger bees, the large blooms may no longer be effectively pollinated. This could lead to an increase in the frequency of small blooms as they are more successful at attracting the remaining smaller bees. This would result in disruptive selection, with the population becoming more extreme in terms of bloom size.
Stabilizing selection: If there is a decrease in the population of both large and small bees, the medium-sized blooms may become the most successful at attracting the remaining bees for pollination. This would lead to stabilizing selection, as the population would shift towards an intermediate bloom size that is most successful in reproducing.
Directional selection: If there is an increase in the population of larger bees, the large blooms may become even more successful at attracting pollinators. This could lead to directional selection, with the population shifting towards larger blooms as they are more successful at reproducing.
Overall, changes in the bee population can have significant effects on the flower population and drive different types of selection depending on the specific circumstances.