A seabird that lives in warm coastal environments. hunt ocean fish and make nests on shore. The seabird has the unusual characteristic that its feet are bright blue, while the rest of its body is gray and black. Suppose a population of seabirds becomes separated after a flood creates a major water barrier across the island. One group is very large (N = 1000) while the other group is very small (N = 25). The conditions on the two islands are quite different including the presence of many more predators on the island with the larger population. Neither predators nor seabird can move between the islands.

a) Describe the necessary factors for speciation to occur within the seabird population. Explain how the researchers would know that speciation did occur.

b) Describe the mechanism that would drive speciation in the big population. Explain how the mechanism would function differently in the small population.

c) Compare the gene frequencies of the two groups of seabirds just after the flood. Explain any differences that will occur in the 20 years following the flood.

d) Fifty years after the flood, a biologist visits the islands and observes that the two groups of seabirds are about the same size in population (about 1000), but one group has blue feet while the other group has red feet. Compare the gene frequencies of the two groups of seabirds fifty years after the flood. Explain any differences.

e). Describe two tests that the biologist could run to determine whether the two groups are still the same species or not. ​