Tasmanian devils, a marsupial carnivore, have experienced a severe decline in their numbers due to the spread of a cancer known as devil facial tumor disease, a condition that results in tumors on their faces that can interfere with their ability to eat or see. females generally produce their first litter toward the end of their second year. scientists have recently observed a dramatic increase in the sexual maturity of females at an earlier age, often in their first year. how might genetic drift account for this change?

C. Females reaching sexual maturity at an early age are more likely to reproduce before being infected with DFTD. Just took the test.

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explanation:

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interphase

the period of cell growth when the cell synthesizes new molecules and organelles. the cell is not dividing and it constitutes the majority of the time spent in the cell cycle

prophase

changes occur in the nucleus and cytoplasm. the chromatin condenses to form structures (sister chromatids) visible with a light microscope and the mitotic spindle begins to form, but the nucleus is still in tact

prometaphase

the nuclear envelope fragments and the spindle microtubules attach to the kinetochores of the sister chromatids

metaphase

all the cell's duplicated chromosomes are lined up at an imaginary plane equidistant between the poles of the mitotic spindle

anaphase

begins when sister chromatids separate from each other and ending when a complete set of daughter chromosomes arrives at each of the two poles of the cell

telophase

the daughter nuclei form at the two poles of a cell

cytokinesis

the division of a cytoplasm to form two separate daughter cells. usually occurs during telophase during mitosis. this and mitosis make up to mitotic (m) phase of the cell cycle