9.15. (10/21) Population Genetics & Competition Flashcards
What is p?
frequency of one allele
what is q?
frequency of a second allele
How can we calculate the frequency of genotypes in a population in Hardy Weinberg equilibrium? What does this do?
(p+q)^2 = p^2+2pq+q^2= 1.0
- allowing random mating to happen
What is p+q=1.0?
The Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium for a population
What are the necessary conditions to maintain constant allele frequencies in a population?
- random mating
- no mutations
- large population size b/c we don’t want genetic drift
- no immigration b/c new alleles can be introduced or there can be different frequencies
- equal fitness (no natural selection, probability of surviving and reproducing)
Why do we care about the Hardy-Weinberg principle?
- it is the null model of evolution
- by defining the narrow range of conditions necessary for evolution to be unexpected, the large potential for evolutionary change was demonstrated
What is Ne?
effective population size
What is effective population size?
- the average size of a population in terms of the number of individuals that can contribute genes equally to the next generation
- the actual number of individuals that can equally pass on genes to the next generation
- less than actual population
what are some problems associated with small populations?
- loss of genetic variability
- inbreeding depression
- genetic drift
How is Ne different than N?
Ne is much lower than the census population because
1. fluctuating population sizes through time
2. unequal number of females and males
What is the equation for a Ne of fluctuating population size?
1/Ne= 1/t(1/N0+1/N1+1/Nt-1)
*typically estimated as the harmonic mean of the actual size of each generation
What is the equation for Ne when there is an unequal number of females and males?
N=4NfNm/Nf+Nm
*Nf & Nm are the numbers of females and males in the population
What is Tansley’s classic competition study?
- A.G. Tansley, British
- experimentally demonstrate competition between closely related species and their implications for predicting where organisms occur
- two galium species
- one liked acid, organic-rich, peaty soil the other liked limestone, basic soil
- can the two species germinate on either soil?
- then grew them together
- when grown in mixture, each species overgrew and shaded the other on its preferred soil type
- disadvantage in competition
What has been concluded from Tansley’s experiment?
- the presence/absence of species can be determined by competition with other species
- environment can affect the outcome of the competition
- competition may be felt very broadly throughout the community
What is competition?
use or defense of a resource by one individual that reduces the availability of that resource to other individuals
What is intraspecific competition?
- within species
- what regulates population growth
- reduces resources
- promotes evolutionary change