9.1 Genetic diversity

Question 1

What is selective breeding also known as?

Answer 1

Artificial selection.

Question 2

Why is selective breeding used?

Answer 2

Individuals with the desired characteristics are used to part the next generation. This way unwanted characteristics are bred out of the population. This leads to a reduce in genetic diversity.

Question 3

The founder effect?

Answer 3

Occurs when just a few individuals from a population colonise a new region. The new population will have less genetic diversity from which they came.

Question 4

Genetic bottlenecks?

Answer 4

Populations in a species may have a dramatic drop in numbers. The few survivors will possess a much smaller variety of alleles then the original population. Their genetic diversity will be less.