How populations evolve

Evolution

  • Change in allele frequencies in a population over time

Microevolution

  • Change in frequency of gene variants, alleles, in a population, typically occurring over a relatively short time period

Population genetics

  • Study of the changes in allele frequencies in a population

Population

  • Individuals of the same species living in an area (capable of interbreeding)

 

Assumptions of hardy- Weinberg

  • Mating is random

  • Large population size

  • No gene flow

  • No mutation

  • No natural selection

 

Genetic bottleneck

  • Sever reduction in population size

    • Can be natural disaster, human activity, disease outbreak

Founder effect

  • A type of genetic drift

  • A small group of individuals breaks off from a larger population to establish a new population

 

Maintaining genetic diversity

  • Function of mutation, recombination and genetic drift

  • Looks at population genetics, disease,

  • Environmental heterogeneity

    • Widely distributed species