The severe reduction in population size is due to which of the following?

Explanation

The correct answer is the bottleneck effect. This effect occurs when a population experiences a sharp reduction in size due to sudden environmental events, such as natural disasters. The survival of only a few individuals leads to a loss of genetic diversity and can drastically change allele frequencies. In contrast, genetic drift is a slower process that does not necessarily involve a reduction in population size. Outbreeding increases genetic diversity and does not reduce population size. Inbreeding affects genetic health over time but does not result in sudden population size reduction.