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The human population is not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

The Hardy-Weinberg theorem is an ideal principle in which the population of a species will remain constant only if the following five assumptions are true: 1 - random mating, 2- a large population size, 3 - no mutations, 4- no new alleles are introduced/lost, and 5 - no natural selection. If all of these assumptions are correct, then the population is in genetic balance, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium; however, this is only an ideal situation because evolution is always occurring within populations.

Humans, for example, do not randomly mate: usually individuals choose a spouse who has positive attributes that they like, which may include: personality, taste, attractive, good with children, intelligence, sometimes race/color, sometimes height, humor, etc. So we have now disproved #1.

#3 - every human being, according to my Biology professor Donald Chandler, has at least 2 mutations. Most mutations are not harmful or don't make any real difference. Some can be very harmful; the point is that humans have mutations and thus #3 is broken.

#4 - New alleles are being introduced into the human gene pool from other human populations constantly - no one stays in their town and inbreeds with only their neighbors. We travel/marry people from other streets, towns, cities, states, countries, or at least our entire family is not made up of second cousins twice removed. Thus #4 has now been disproved as well.

#5 - natural selection occurs all of the time - People who carry inherited, life-threatening diseases may die before they can pass the gene for that disease to their offspring. With the help of modern medicine, this is now not as terrible as it used to be. People can be treated with proper medications for their genetic diseases. Women who in the 1800s would have died in childbirth due to being too small in the hip area to give birth can now have Caesarean sections (C-sections) and both mother and child can survive. Without modern medicine, natural selection would have been genetically in favor of women with larger hip areas for childbirth.

I skipped #2 because although there are billions and billions of humans in the world, I was not sure if an ideal population should have an infinite number of individuals. Either way, now you know all about how this Hardy-Weinberg theorem works - and how the ideal situation could never truly occur, even in Humans.

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Is the human population evolving according to the Hardy-Weinberg principles?

Yes, humans are still evolving and have not met the hardy-weinberg equilibrium. Although, I do believe our rate of evolution has been slowed down. The hardy-weinberg theorem states that allele frequencies will not chance if there is a large population, mating opportunities are equal, no mutations occur, no migration occurs, and no natural selection occurs. We certainly do have a large population (exception to certain isolated tribes that have not been influenced). This has slowed evolution because chance effect of genetic is nullified. It is arguable to say mating opportunities are not always equal; we have a hierarchy in society where the rich are clearly separated from the average and poor. We all have a tendency to mate with each other. Also, our ability to reason (which seperates us from all other species) has allowed us to make a much more in depth analysis into what behavioral and physical traits we are attracted to in our mates (does not strike me as much different then sexual dimorphism). This implies sexual selection, which is a form of natural selection. Think of all the locations where mutations occur (during replication, transcription, and translation), it is very unreasonable to think that in the entire human population no type of mutation ever occurs. It also has been proven that a mutation occurs, in a large population, in one in every gamete. Therefore, microevolution is still occurring. The human race is obviously always migrating to different countries, and therefore are under different environmental pressures. A problem however is that we have gotten extremely good at altering our environment to our standards rather then adapting. Furthermore, it has been proven that a gene on chromosome 12 in Africans has 21 different variations (this is one amongst many differences in allele frequencies between different races). Therefore, if a North American, who only has 3 variations, mates with an African, then the allele frequency has changed and again the hardy-weinberg conditions are not met.


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