Topic 4C.4 Gene Pool and Genetic Diversity

population

a breeding group of individuals of the same species occupying a particular habitat and a particular niche

gene pool

the sum total of all the genes in a population at a given time

selection pressure

the effect of one or more environmental factors that determine whether an organism will be more or less successful at surviving and reproducing, driving speciation

Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium

the mathematical relationship between the frequencies of alleles and genotypes in a population; the equation used to describe this relationship can be used to work out the stable allele frequencies within a population

gene flow

the migration of either whole organisms or genetic material into or out of a population and into another population, tending to make different populations more alike, but changing the allele frequencies within each individual population all the time