Topic 34: Population Genetics 1

Question 1

Describe the different types of variation in a population

Answer 1

Types of variation in a population includes:
Genetic Variation: causesd by differences in genes or other DNA segements.

Phenotypic Variation: the phenotype differences seen today in an population.

Question 2

Explain why only natural selection can act upon heritable variation

Answer 2

Only natural selection can act upon heritable variation because its the only type that can consistently increase the frequency of beneficial alleles and relative to that particular environment in that particular moment.

Question 3

Solve Hardy Weinberg Problems

Answer 3

p+q=1
P^2 + 2pq +q^2=1

p= represents dominant
q=represents recessive
2pq= represents heterozygous genotypic frequency

Question 4

Describe genetic drift: the founder effect and the bottleneck effect

Answer 4

Genetic drift is random change that involves allele frequencies fluctuate unpredictably from one generation to the next.

Founder effect: Occurs when a few individuals become isolated from an environment and they breed bringing different variation in alleles in different generations.

Bottle neck effect: Occurs when their is sudden reduction in population size due to a change in environment.

Question 5

Explain how each evolutionary force can influence a population’s allele frequencies

Answer 5

Natural selection influences populations allele frequencies by increasing its frequency in its current environment and moment that then are passed to the next generation.

Genetic Drift influences allele frequencies through isolation of alleles or sudden changes in a population causing change in future generations.

Gene Flow influences allele frequencies through movement or migration of alleles among populations bringing change to populations overtime.