Prior to European colonization, over 50 million bison lived…

Priоr tо Eurоpeаn colonizаtion, over 50 million bison lived аcross North America. By 1882, due to overexploitation by European colonists, the bison was virtually extinct, with the total population in North America numbering around ~500 individuals. Since then, careful conservation efforts have increased the North American bison population to over 300,000 today. As a result of this catastrophe, bison experienced a "population bottleneck", which is a severe form of [answerA]. As a result, the current population should be expected to have [answerB], relative to the pre-colonial population.