Genetic diversity and adaptation

Question 1

What is genetic diversity?

Answer 1

Genetic diversity is described as the total number of different alleles in a population.

Question 2

What is a population?

Answer 2

A population is a group of individuals of the same species that live in the same place and can interbreed.

Question 3

What is a species?

Answer 3

A species consists of one or more populations.

Question 4

How can you maximise genetic diversity?

Answer 4

The greater the number of different alleles that all members of a species possess, the greater the genetic diversity.

Question 5

How is genetic diversity reduced?

Answer 5

Genetic diversity is reduced when a species has fewer different alleles.

Question 6

What is the advantage of having a greater genetic diversity?

Answer 6

The greater the genetic diversity, the more likely that some individuals in a population will survive and environmental change.
Because a wider range of alleles means that there is a wider range of characteristics.
This gives a greater probability that some individual will possess a characteristic that suits to the new environmental conditions.
Genetic diversity is a factor which enables natural selection to happen.

Question 7

What is natural selection?

Answer 7

Where organisms who are better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring as they are more likely to pass on their alleles.

Question 8

How do differences between the reproductive success of individuals affect allele frequency in population?

Answer 8

• Within any population of a species, there’ll be a gene pool containing a wide variety of alleles.
• Random mutation of alleles within the gene pool may result in a new allele of a gene which most likely to be harmful.
• However, in certain environments, the new allele of a gene might give advantage over others.
• This individual is better adapted so more likely to survive than the others.
• The individual are more likely to obtain the available resources and grow more rapidly and live longer. So they are more likely to breed sucessfully and produce more offsprings.
• Only these individuals can reproduce successfully and will pass on their alleles to the next generation.
• Over many generations, the number of individuals with the new advantageous allele will increass.
• Overtime, the population will all have advantageous allele.