How does genetic drift effect the survival of a population?
1 Answer
While usually moving towards favorable traits, the reduction in diversity caused by genetic drift also means that a particular susceptibility of the population increases the chance of extinction.
Explanation:
Genetic drift reduces genetic variability of a population by decreasing the size of the population. The change in population size and variability often leads to new species and unique populations.
Populations of organisms are constantly changing and adapting to their environment. Drastic changes in environmental conditions can sometimes cause drastic changes to the gene pool of the population. Genetic drift is when chance events cause changes in frequencies of alleles in a population. Alleles are the genetic variations in a population, and they are the driving force behind the evolution of that population.
The smaller the population, the greater the impact genetic drift will have. This is because there are fewer individuals and the gene pool is smaller. If the effects of genetic drift are strong enough, the allele might be completely removed from the population, reducing the amount of variation in the population's gene pool.
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