Which major change can occur in a small population that is the result of genetic drift?

Answer 1

One problem is that the population will loose it genetic variation. With little genetic variation a population is less likely to have some individuals that will be able to adapt to a changing environment.

Answer 2

Genetic drift occurs over a short period of time in small isolated populations, resulting in a dramatic change in phenotype. The characteristic(s) become fixed

because the population is so small any change in gene frequency has a dramatic effect on the population as a whole.

It is hypothesized that the recessive eye and hair color(blonde and blue) that prevails in Sweden is due to genetic drift in the original population.

In a population of only 200 individuals if 50% of the population is blonde haired, the

Hardy-Weinberg Principle p squared + 2pq + q squared = 1 and p + q =1 where p is the frequency of the the dominant allele and q is the frequency of the recessive allele.

In order for the population to be 50% homozygous recessive nearly 71% of all the alleles in the population are recessive. p+q therefore is .29+.71=1 (approximate). This means that of 200 indivduals in the population 100 are blonde haired and 17 (approximate) are homozygous for dark hair and the remaining 83 (approximate) are heterozygous dark haired.

Whether genetic drift occurs because of random probability or the loss of individuals with the dominant allele through disease, accident or war the effect on the population would be dramatic.

Answer 3

A major change that can occur in a small population as a result of genetic drift is the fixation of a certain allele, where one variant becomes the only version present in the population. This can reduce genetic diversity and increase the prevalence of genetic disorders.

Answer 4

Changing the amount of genes that it has. Therefore either deleting or adding more genes to that population

Answer 5

ocuurence of evolution due to variation for adapting a different conditions of the environment