Lecture 36: Evolutionary Processes and Genetic Drift

These flashcards cover key concepts from Lecture 36 regarding evolutionary processes, particularly focusing on genetic drift, gene flow, natural selection, and mutation.

Bottleneck Effect

A sudden decrease in population size leading to a reduction in genetic diversity.

Founder Effect

A genetic phenomenon occurring when a small group establishes a new population, often leading to different allele frequencies than the original population.

Mutation

A change in DNA that generates new alleles, serving as the ultimate source of genetic variation.

Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium

A principle that describes a non-evolving population where allele frequencies remain constant.

Allele Fixation

When a specific allele becomes the only variant in a population, either by drifting to fixation or being lost.

Sampling Error

The deviation from expected results due to the subset of individuals being sampled, which leads to random genetic drift.

Genetic Variation

Diversity in gene frequencies within a population, key to evolution and adaptation.

Adaptive Significance of Drift

Genetic drift is random with respect to fitness and can alter allele frequencies without regard to their adaptive value.