Final answer:
The deer population already reduced due to hunting will be more at risk if a forest fire burned their food source, as they have smaller numbers and less genetic diversity for recovery.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question is about which population of deer would be more at risk if a forest fire destroyed their entire food source. In this scenario, mortality factors such as natural disasters, which include forest fires, affect the population of a species regardless of its density. This means that any individual deer within the population has the same chance of survival during a forest fire, whether there are a few or many deer present. Therefore, the population that was already reduced due to indiscriminate hunting would be more at risk because they have lower numbers to begin with, making recovery more difficult and leaving less genetic diversity for adaptation and survival post-disaster.
Considering the biology of these populations, we understand that a severe reduction in their food source will likely lead to starvation, and the already reduced population would struggle to find alternative food sources, making them more susceptible to further mortality.