Populations

Question 1

What is the definition of a population?

Answer 1

• a group of organisms of the same species living in the same habitat that can potentially interbreed

Question 2

What is the definition of the term gene pool?

Answer 2

• collection of genes within an interbreeding population at a particular time

Question 3

What is the definition of the term allele frequency?

Answer 3

• how often diff. alleles occur in the gene pool of a population

Question 4

What is the definition of the Hardy-Weinberg principle?

Answer 4

• assumes, that if certain conditions are met, there will be no change in allele frequencies between generations within a pop.

Question 5

What conditions/assumptions must be met for the Hardy-Weinberg principle?

Answer 5

• no migration to introduce or remove alleles from pop.
• no mutations to create new alleles
• no selection favouring particular alleles
• mating is random
• the population is large
• organisms are diploid
• organisms reproduce by sexual reproduction only

Question 6

What equation is used to calculate the frequency of alleles in a pop?

Answer 6

p + q = 1
- p: frequency of dominant allele
- q: frequency of recessive allele

Question 7

What equation is used to calculate the frequency of genotypes in a pop?

Answer 7

p^2 + q^2 + 2pq = 1
- p^2: frequency of homozygous dominant genotype (AA)
- q^2: frequency of homozygous recessive genotype (aa)
- 2pq: frequency of heterozygous genotype (Aa)