Study Questions - Drift
Relevant Readings: chapter 7
1) Define genetic drift. How does sample size affect the relationship between the sample and the population, and between repeated samples of a given size?
2) List 5 reasons why a reproductive population may act, genetically, as a population much smaller than the total population.
3) Explain how selection at one locus can cause drift at another locus.
4) What is coalescence, and why does it occur? What is the consequence of coalescence in terms of relatedness among mates?
5) Why does inbreeding necessarily increase as time passes - include the effects of drift and coalescence.
6) What's the exact probability that a given allele becomes fixed in the population?
7) What is the probability that a brand new allele will be come fixed in a population? How long will this take, on average, if drift is the only agent of change?
8) How are heterozygosity and variation related? When is a population most variable (and most heterozygotic if in HWE?). How will drift affect the variation within a population?
9) Explain the Wahlund Effect.
10) Why can we measure the effects of drift by measuring the decline in heterozygosity of subdivided populations?