Which choice most logically completes the text? | Verbal SAT Question

In 2024, Marianne Dehasque et al. challenged earlier theories on causes of woolly mammoth extinction that emphasized isolation and inbreeding and a resulting decrease in genetic variation and increase in chances of harmful genetic mutations. Focusing on Wrangel Island off the coast of Siberia, where the last mammoths lived, the team used genome-based simulations to evaluate mutations in the population there. The analysis showed that particularly damaging mutations became less frequent, while moderate ones accumulated over time within the isolated population, which quickly grew from about 8 founding individuals to the 200–300 individuals it maintained until its extinction. The team thus concluded that despite its isolation, the Wrangel Island mammoth population likely

Which choice most logically completes the text?

developed increasing resistance to certain diseases and environmental harms over time.

didn’t go extinct suddenly but rather experienced a slow decline over its last several generations.

reached a size similar to that of nearby mammoth populations that were not isolated and thus had fewer genetic mutations.

didn’t succumb as a result of the most harmful genetic mutations becoming too prevalent for the population to be sustained.