genetic drift
What is genetic drift?
Genetic drift is a change in allelic frequencies due to chance events.
What is natural selection?
Natural selection is the process where individuals with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce.
What is a mutation ?
A mutation is a random change in an organism’s DNA.
What is nonrandom mating?
Nonrandom mating is when individuals mate based on preference or proximity, not randomly.
What is gene flow?
Gene flow is the movement of alleles between populations through migration
How does genetic drift affect small populations differently than large populations?
In small populations, genetic drift has a stronger effect, potentially leading to the loss of alleles more quickly.
How does stabilizing selection differ from directional selection?
Stabilizing selection favors average traits, while directional selection favors extreme traits in one direction.
How do mutations affect the allelic frequencies within a population?
Mutations introduce new alleles into the gene pool, altering allelic frequencies.
How does nonrandom mating contribute to inbreeding within a population?
It leads to inbreeding, increasing the frequency of homozygous individuals.
How does gene flow increase genetic variation within a population?
It increases genetic variation within a population by introducing new alleles.
Explain the difference between the founder effect and a bottleneck in genetic drift.
The founder effect occurs when a small group leaves a population and establishes a new one, while a bottleneck happens when a population sharply decreases and then recovers.
Compare and contrast the effects of disruptive selection and sexual selection on the traits of a population?
Disruptive selection favors extreme traits at both ends of the spectrum, splitting populations, while sexual selection favors traits that improve mating success.
How can a harmful mutation become beneficial in the context of natural selection?
A harmful mutation may become beneficial if environmental changes favor the traits it produces, increasing its frequency through natural selection.
Discuss how nonrandom mating affects allelic frequencies in a population over time, and the potential consequences for evolution.
Nonrandom mating can increase the frequency of certain alleles over time, reducing genetic diversity and potentially leading to an increase in harmful recessive traits.
Explain how gene flow can affect the genetic variation between populations and provide an example where gene flow is restricted.