population and conservation genetics Flashcards
what are some applications of population genetic technique
- detecting barriers of gene flow
- inbreeding and inbreeding depression
- natural selection
- reproductive success
- relatedness analysis and social structure
what is population genetics
the study of patterns of genetic variation in natural populations (interbreeding groups of organisms of the same species)
what is conservation genetics
applies population genetics to conservation situations
how do you work out genotype frequency
the number of individuals possessing genotype/ total number of individuals in sample
how do you work out allele frequency
number of copies of a particular allele present/ total number of alleles
what are the assumptions of the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
1) infinite population size
2) random mating occurs
3) no mutation, migration or natural selection
what can the Hardy-weinberg equation be used to look for evidence for
1) pop subdivison/ barrier to gene flow
2) mutation, migration of natural selection
3) social structure
as if the assumptions are broken the pop is out of HWE
if a chi square test produces a significant difference what does it show about the HWE
that the population is out of HWE
what is a microsatellite
aka short tandem repeats, a simple seuqence of repeats which is highly variable and can be used as genetic markers
what is genetic drift
when allele frequencies drift over generations due to chance differences in reproduction or survival, occurs faster in smaller pops
what is inbreeding
a measure of the probability that two allels are identical by descent, it increases the proportion of homozygotes in the population
what is inbreeding depression
the occurrence of undesribale traits in the pop as a result of inbreeding
what is parentage analysis
when genetic profiles are compared between parents and offspring at multiple loci allowing us to look at patterens of reproductive success
what is fitness
the relative average reproductive success of a genotype
