Ecological Genetics Flashcards
(48 cards)
What is ecological genetics/genomics?
- the study of genetic/phenotypic variability in natural populations of plants and animals and the relationship to ecological processes
oikos
house, a place to live
_____ is to _____ as physics is to engineering
ecology, environmental science
what is deep ecology
totality of all ecosystems
what is community ecology
all the species of plants and animals living in same place at the same time
what is population ecology
group of conspecific indviduals living in same place at the same time
T/F: variability within natural populations is uncommon
false, variability is the norm
what does a monomorphic population mean?
all individuals are homozygous (aa, both alleles are the same)
what does a polymorphic population mean
if there are two or more alleles in a population (ab), an individual is a heterozygote
what does genetic variability originate with?
a mutation - point and chromosomal which leads to a different allele
what % of loci per individual are polymorphic?
5-15%
roughly how many genes does an individual have?
20,000 genes / individual
can a locus gene have many alleles?
yes, can have many within a population (a,b,c,e, etc) but each individual can have a max of 2 for a diploid species
how does genetic variability relate to population size?
little genetic variability in small populations, as population size increases so does variability
describe the drosophila genetic variability graph
as the population size increases, even after 500 generations 80% of the heterozygous alleles are still present, with a low now inbred species cause the variability to die out
what does inbreeding lead to
juvenile mortality
what did the paper find about sea lions?
more animals that were sick had a higher parental relatedness (homozygosity)
what did the study on drosophila measure?
the amount of variation remaining in the population over time in relation to the original population size
what was the approx fraction of initial genetic variation after 500 generations when (dros study)…
N= 1000
N= 300
N= 100
N= 20
- 0.85
- 0.45
- 0.15
- 0.00 (extinct after 200 generations)
what happened to rocky mountain bighorn sheep after 50 years?
went extinct due to homozygosity, unable to cope with pathogens, parasites, disease and led to death
what is the min population size to maintain genetic variability in isolated populations?
2500
T/F: increased numbers of individuals results in increased inbreeding
false - reduced numbers of individuals result in increased inbreeding
does inbreeding influence the response of california sea lions to different pathogens in the wild?
yes, increased homozygosity leads to increased pathogen related death
what is the minimum viable population (MVP)
the population must retain 90% of variability of 200 years. MVP depends on habitat area and species requirements. MVP for an isolated population is ~2500
