Week 6

Question 1

Mutation

Answer 1

an actual alteration in genetic material either at the level of the base or at the level of the chromosome. This is the basic creative force in evolution and is the only way to produce new variation in a population

Question 2

Gene Flow

Answer 2

A movement of genes from one population to another; also termed migration (although that can imply that individuals are migrating, when in fact only the genes may remain in the new area)

Question 3

Genetic Drift

Answer 3

(random genetic drift): An effect of sampling error and chance fluctuations in gene frequency based simply on a variation from a statistically expected outcome. This is a function of population size in that a shift in gene frequencies will have a proportionally greater effect in a small mating population than in a large mating population. Change in frequencies is due to natural selections

Question 4

Founder effect

Answer 4

a newly isolated sample from the original population soon diverges genetically from the parent population. If 10 people from a normal population started a new population on a deserted island, and if all of those individuals had attached earlobes, the new population and all of the offspring would be very unlike the original population

Question 5

natural selection

Answer 5

a process that acts on variation, if there is variation in a population, some of these variations may influence reproductive success

Question 6

The Hardy-Weinburg Equilibrium Formula

Answer 6

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